UC-NRLF 


52E 


ON 

BECOMING 
BLIND 


JAVAL 


C-E-EDSON 


ON  BECOMING  BLIND 


DR.  £MILE  JAVAL  ON  HIS  TANDEM  TRICYCLE. 


ON  BECOMING  BLIND 

ADVICE  FOR  THE  USE  OF  PERSONS 
LOSING  THEIR  SIGHT 


BY 


DR.   ^MILE   JAVAL 

Director  of  the  Ophthalmic  Labor ( 

ficole  des  Hautes  J&tudes 
Member  of  the  Academy  of  Medicine 


Honorary  Director  of  the  Ophthalmic  Laboratory  of  the 
ficole  des  Hautes  J&tudes 


TRANSLATED  BY 

CARROLL  E.   EDSON,  A.M.,  M.D. 


g  orfc 
THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

LONDON :  MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LTD. 
1905 

All  rights  reserved 


COPYBIGHT,  1905, 

BT  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 
Set  up  and  electrotyped.     Published  February,  1905. 


Norfoootr 

J.  B.  Cuihing  &  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

THERE  is  so  much  of  help  and  suggestion 
in  Dr.  Javal's  little  volume  that  it  has  been 
a  labor  of  love  to  translate  it,  in  the  hope 
that  it  may  bring  this  usefulness  within  the 
reach  of  those  afflicted  who  cannot  read  the 
original.  It  has  not  been  possible  to  con- 
vey all  the  charm  of  style  of  Dr.  Javal's 
text,  and  somehow  the  pathos  between  the 
lines  is  lost  in  the  translation.  The  appen- 
dix on  the  means  of  accelerating  reading 
and  writing  has  not  been  rendered  into 
English,  as  it  dealt  with  phonography  of 
the  French  language  only.  I  have  added 
also  to  the  last  chapter  a  list  of  similar 
useful  addresses  in  this  country. 

DENVER,  COLORADO, 
September  20, 1904. 


334243 


INTRODUCTION 

HAVING  lost  my  sight  suddenly  at  a 
relatively  late  age  (I  had  just  entered  my 
sixty-second  year),  one  of  my  first  cares 
was  to  inquire  what  might  be  done  to  live 
with  the  least  possible  evil  with  my  in- 
firmity. Great  was  my  surprise  to  find 
nowhere  any  collection  of  advice  on  this 
matter.  In  short,  the  attention  of  the 
friends  of  the  blind,  or  typhlophiles,  has 
been  concentrated  either  on  the  bringing 
up  and  instruction  of  the  blind  young  or 
upon  charity  organization  for  the  blind 
poor. 

What  further  explains  the  lack  of  such 
publications  as  I  wished  is,  that  the  sudden 
and  complete  loss  of  sight  is  a  relatively 
infrequent  misfortune.  Adults  whose  vision 
fails  little  by  little  gradually  accustom  them- 

vii 


viii  INTRODUCTION 

selves  to  withdraw  more  or  less  completely 
from  affairs.  Some  soon  resign  themselves 
to  passing  their  life  in  the  corner  and  to 
drop  out  of  the  world  of  the  living ;  others, 
more  energetic,  but  much  less  numerous, 
continue,  as  far  as  possible,  their  former 
mode  of  life  with  the  aid  of  others'  eyes. 

/  Without  going  back  to  Homer,  we  have 
seen  Huber,  become  blind  at  the  age  of 
twenty-seven,  assisted  by  a  faithful  servant, 
continue  the  work  of  Reaumur  on  the 
habits  of  bees;  Augustin  Thierry,  blind  at 
thirty,  not  abandon  his  historical  researches, 
but  dictate  his  "  Recits  des  temps  merovin- 

/  giens "  ;  Milton,  losing  his  sight  at  fifty, 
dictate  to  his  daughter  his  celebrated  poem 
of  "Paradise  Lost";  Rodenbach  play  an 
important  part  in  the  Belgian  parliament; 
Fawcett,  blinded  at  twenty-five,  change, 
thanks  first  to  a  remarkable  family  col- 
laboration, his  career  of  a  lawyer  for  that 
of  a  writer,  win  an  election  to  the  House  of 
Commons,  and  become  postmaster-general. 
These  examples,  and  others  less  illustrious, 
suffice  to  prove  that  blindness,  seizing  a 


INTRODUCTION  ix 

man  in  full  activity,  does  not  condemn  him 
to  inactivity,  especially  if,  the  loss  of  sight 
being  gradual,  he  can  likewise  accommodate 
himself  little  by  little  to  the  new  condition 
set  him. 

It  is  by  long  experience  that  the  persons 
who  live  with  a  blinded  one  learn  to  spare 
him  difficulties  with  a  devotion  often  ad- 
mirable, a  devotion  whose  burden  I  would 
like  to  help  lessen. 

I  set  forth  in  the  pages  which  follow  the 
results  of  my  experience  and  researches; 
I  ask  the  indulgence  of  competent  persons, 
for  I  am  only  a  parvenu  in  blindness. 

The  cost  will  prevent  many  of  my  com- 
panions in  misfortune  from  profiting  by  a 
large  part  of  my  advice.  As  my  work  will 
obviously  not  be  read  by  the  blind,  but  by 
their  relatives,  nothing  obliges  these  to  ac- 
quaint them  with  all  the  chapters ;  each 
will  take  what  he  can.  I  write  for  the 
family  of  the  blind ;  it  is  for  them  to  spare 
their  prote'ge  the  regret  of  being  unable  to 
procure  costly  helps,  such  as  the  tandem- 
tricycle  or  the  phonograph. 


x  INTRODUCTION 

It  is  perhaps  more  especially  to  my  oculist 
confreres  that  it  will  fall  to  cull  from  this 
volume  the  advice  which  they  may  use  to 
the  profit  of  their  unfortunate  patients.  I 
have  met  more  than  one  blind  man  who 
spoke  in  very  bitter  terms  of  the  care  he 
received  in  the  last  period  of  his  malady. 

I  therefore  beg  my  confreres  to  resist  the 
tendency  —  they  call  it  humane  and  I  call 
it  barbarous  —  to  leave  these  patients  in 
hope  while  amusing  them  with  injections 
of  strychnine,  sittings  of  electricity,  or  use- 
less internal  treatments,  the  employment  of 
which,  even  if  given  gratuitously,  does  not 
increase  the  reputation  of  him  who  makes 
use  of  them.  To  give,  by  a  placebo  treat- 
ment, consolation  to  an  incurable,  is  to 
prevent  him  from  arranging  his  life  in  an- 
ticipation of  the  fatal  outcome.  It  seems 
to  me  more  humane  to  do  for  the  blind 
what  I  wish  had  been  done  for  me,  and  to 
prepare  them  little  by  little  for  their  fate. 
If,  for  example,  you  foresee  that  the  pa- 
tient will  one  day  be  forced  to  resort  to 
Braille  writing,  is  it  not  a  duty  to  use  the 


INTRODUCTION  xi 

little  sight  left  him  to  teach  him  the  first 
elements  of  this  process? 

More  particularly  intended  to  serve  men 
of  the  liberal  professions  who  have  just 
made  the  "leap  in  the  dark/'  the  pages 
which  follow  would  never  have  been  writ- 
ten if  this  misfortune  had  not  befallen  me, 
and  if,  as  I  hope,  they  serve  to  render 
easier  some  ill  fortune  like  mine,  fate  will 
have  given  me  one  precious  consolation. 

5  BOULEVARD  LATOUR-MAUBOURO, 
PARIS,  June,  1903. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I.  BONDAGE  AND  FREEDOM         ...  1 

II.  REPLACING  SIGHT  BY  THE  OTHER  SENSES  6 

III.  HOUSEHOLD  OCCUPATIONS        ...  16 

IV.  PROFESSIONAL  OCCUPATIONS   ...  20 
V.  NEATNESS,  HYGIENE,  HEALTH        .        .  31 

VI.  DWELLING  .......  38 

VII.  MEALS        .......  42 

VIII.  WATCHES  AND  CLOCKS     ....  47 

IX.  WALKING  IN  TOWN  AND  COUNTRY        .  50 

X.  TANDEM  TRICYCLE  .....  59 

XI.  TRAVELLING      .        .        .       .       .       .67 

XII.  OUTSIDE  ASSOCIATIONS    ....  73 

XIII.  READING  ALOUD       .....  79 

XIV.  HANDWRITING  ......  85 

XV.  TYPEWRITING  AND  PHONOGRAPHY  .        .  92 

XVI.  READING  AND  WRITING  BRAILLE  .        .  96 

XVII.  CORRESPONDENCE  WITH   PERSONS  WHO 

SEE        .....       .  120 

xiii 


xiy  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAOB 

XVIII.  MAPS,  PLANS,  AND  SKETCHES       .        .  124 

XIX.  Music 128 

XX.  GAMES 130 

XXI.  TOBACCO 132 

XXII.  MEMORY  AND  MNEMONICS    .        .        .  134 

XXIII.  ESPERANTO 143 

XXIV.  MARRIAGE 147 

XXV.  THE  SIXTH  SENSE         .        .        .        .152 

XXVI.  PSYCHOLOGY  OF  THE  BLIND         .        .  170 

XXVII.  USEFUL  ADDRESSES       .        .        .        .179 

APPENDIX 182 

INDEX  .       »  193 


ON  BECOMING  BLIND 


ON  BECOMING  BLIND 


BONDAGE  AND   FREEDOM 

"If  we  ardently  desire  sight,  it  is  not  to  enjoy  the 
delight  of  faces  and  to  distinguish  colors,  but  much  more 
to  be  freed  from  the  thousand  restraints  which  blindness 
throws  around  us  everywhere  —  in  the  street,  in  the 
house,  at  the  table.  It  is  to  escape  from  the  dependence 
which,  even  if  friendly,  weighs  upon  us." 

THE  above  lines  are  by  M.  Guilbeau,  pro- 
fessor at  the  National  Institution  for  the 
Young  Blind  and  founder  of  the  Valentin 
Hatiy  Museum,  an  eminent  man  whose 
counsels  have  been  of  the  greatest  use 
to  me. 

If  these  valuations  are  true  for  those  who, 
like  M.  Guilbeau,  lost  their  sight  in  child- 
hood, they  are  very  much  more  so  for  those 
who  during  an  already  long  life  have  had 


;'0N:  BECOMING  BLIND 

the  use  of  their  eyes.  One  of  the  phases 
of  the  bondage  from  which  the  blind  escapes 
with  difficulty  is  the  impossibility,  in  which 
he  often  finds  himself,  of  controlling  by  him- 
self the  statements  of  another.  If  he  can- 
not have  absolute  confidence  in  the  veracity 
of  those  about  him,  life  becomes  intolerable 
for  him.  Never  lie  to  a  blind  man,  be  it 
with  the  best  intent  in  the  world ;  because, 
to  render  him  a  passing  service,  you  will 
have  killed  his  confidence,  and  in  conse- 
quence his  security. 

It  is  wretched  to  run  to  another  for  the 
most  unimportant  acts.  "  Nobody  ever  un- 
derstands one,"  said  Becque.  Each  of  us 
has  always,  even  as  concerns  his  most  inti- 
mate friend,  his  "  secret  tribunal "  which 
dictates,  in  daily  life,  small  actions,  insig- 
nificant perhaps,  but  whose  changes  it  is 
not  pleasant  to  have  discussed.  And  if, 
himself,  the  blind  has  nothing  to  hide  from 
his  relatives,  he  may  wish  to  keep  to  him- 
self the  confidences  of  another. 

At  first  it  was  impossible  for  me  to  keep 
the  secret  of  my  correspondence  with  those 


BONDAGE  AND   FREEDOM  3 

who  had  sight ;  I  have  gradually  succeeded 
in  doing  it,  and  you  will  see  how  in 
Chapter  XVII. 

In  society  the  bondage  of  the  blind  is  al- 
most constant ;  he  does  not  choose  his  inter- 
locutor, the  other  forces  himself  on  him. 
It  is  impossible  to  escape  from  a  bore,  to 
join  a  congenial  group,  or  to  take  aside  one 
who,  often  with  discreetness,  does  not  come 
up  to  rescue  him  from  an  unconscionable 
dun. 

For  most  services,  paid  help  is  preferable. 
For  example,  a  paid  reader  reads  what  we 
wish,  rereads  any  passage  we  wish  to  re- 
member, skips  a  chapter  which  does  not 
interest  us.  He  spares  us  his  comments. 
If  we  dictate  a  letter  to  him,  he  does  not 
interrupt  to  give  us  his  advice.  But,  docile 
slave,  he  ends  sometimes  by  making  himself 
indispensable,  and  may  become,  to  speak 
truly,  the  household  tyrant,  the  Cerberus 
who  drives  off  those  who  shelter  him.  I 
have  known  one  blind  man  without  a  family 
who  was,  to  the  time  of  his  death,  the  slave 
of  his  secretary  and  his  cook,  still  happy  in 


4  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

the  little  independence  left  him  of  reciprocal 
hatred  of  these  two  persons. 

From  the  time  of  Antigone,  we  have  seen 
women,  daughters  of  the  blind,  make  entire 
abnegation  of  themselves.  Whatever  satis- 
faction they  may  find  in  thus  immolating 
themselves,  if  we  may  admire  them,  yet  it  is 
wise  to  blame  them.  We  ought  to  tell  them 
the  sad  story  of  the  English  poet  whose 
sister  was  his  constant  companion;  when 
she  died,  he  was  more  helpless  than  when  he 
became  blind.  Would  she  not  have  done 
better  to  have  married  and  left  him  some 
nephews  ?  And  that  other  admirable  mother, 
consecrating  herself  wholly  to  the  education 
of  an  only  daughter,  —  was  she  right  in 
neglecting  other  duties? 

The  blind  must  not  abuse  such  devotion 
by  being  capricious  in  the  distribution  of  his 
time.  He  must  put  upon  himself  the  re- 
straint of  the  greatest  possible  regularity  of 
hours ;  and  every  time  in  this  ordered  life 
that  he  wishes  to  interpose  any  project,  he 
ought  to  make  it  known  as  soon  as  conceived 
so  that  every  one  may  plan  accordingly. 


BONDAGE  AND   FREEDOM  5 

All  efforts  should  tend  to  give  the  blind 
the  maximum  of  freedom  and  independence 
compatible  with  his  condition,  by  providing 
him  with  the  means  of  doing  for  himself  as 
many  things  as  possible.  The  more  he 
knows  how  to  do  alone,  the  more  he  will  act 
for  himself  and  the  more  content  he  will  be, 
while  less  of  a  care  to  another. 

One  kind  of  though tfulness  to  which  the 
blind  is  extremely  sensitive  consists  in  main- 
taining around  him  the  most  perfect  and 
scrupulous  order,  so  that  he  is  free  to  find 
things  for  himself  instead  of  having  to  ask 
for  them.  He  should,  as  far  as  possible,  sort 
his  papers  for  himself,  so  as  never  to  be  at 
the  mercy  of  a  particular  person  when  he 
has  need  to  find  them  again. 

Since  the  loss  of  freedom  is  the  worst  of 
the  consequences  of  blindness,  when  one 
loses  his  sight  the  first  thing  to  do  is  to 
hasten  to  make  him  familiar  with  all  the 
procedures  which  allow  him  to  act  for  him- 
self; and  it  is  the  setting  forth  of  these 
means  which  is  the  object  of  the  present 
work. 


II 

REPLACING  SIGHT   BY   THE   OTHER   SENSES 

ACCORDING  to  a  widespread  opinion,  the 
loss  of  one  sense  has  the  effect  of  increasing 
the  acuteness  of  the  others  :  nothing  is  more 
false.  It  is  opposed  to  the  theory  of  sensa- 
tions and  contrary  to  experience  to  hope, 
for  example,  that  a  blind  person,  by  dint  of 
practice,  will  end  by  hearing  a  watch  farther 
off  than  he  would  have  heard  it  at  the  mo- 
ment he  lost  his  sight. 

This  is  not  to  say  that  the  blind  does  not 
reap  a  useful  benefit  —  even  very  useful  — 
from  certain  sensations  which  escape  the 
seer.  He  learns  —  and  he  must  learn  — 
to  bring  his  attention  to  bear  upon  many 
things  which,  for  those  who  see,  are  of  sec- 
ondary importance  or  even  negligible.  For 
example,  when  I  could  see,  it  might  wholly 
escape  my  notice  whether  a  visitor  were 
gloved.  At  present  I  do  not  fail  to  shake 

6 


REPLACING   SIGHT   BY   OTHER   SENSES     7 

hands  with  every  arrival,  before  having  him 
sit  down.  I  know  immediately  if  he  is 
gloved  or  not,  and  the  difference  of  hands 
informs  me,  when  I  combine  with  it  the 
voice  and  the  height  from  which  it  comes, 
of  the  sex,  the  build,  and  in  some  measure 
of  the  age  and  the  social  condition,  of  the 
speaker.  The  variety  of  handclasps  is  in- 
finite, so  that  I  learned,  without  too  great 
surprise,  that  a  person  both  deaf  and  blind, 
and  who  consequently  comes  into  relation 
with  another  only  by  the  hand,  sometimes 
recognizes  a  handshake  after  several  years' 
interval.  The  odor  helping,  I  have  suc- 
ceeded in  promptly  turning  off  a  beggar 
whose  breath  was  loaded  with  alcohol. 
There  is  not  brought  out  any  refinement 
of  the  auditory,  tactile,  and  olfactory  senses, 

\  but  greater  keenness  in  the  interpretation 
of  the  information  furnished  by  these  senses. 

^The  blind  from  birth  'are  past  masters  in 
this  kind  of  exercise,  and  I  would  give 
to  my  brothers  in  recent  blindness  some 
pointers  drawn  from  the  experience  of  their 
predecessors. 


8  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

For  the  blind,  hearing  is  almost  the  sole 
means  of  recognizing  distant  objects.  It  is 
desirable  therefore  to  avoid  useless  noises, 
in  order  to  leave  more  action  to  the  lesser 
noises  which  reveal  what  is  going  on  about 
him.  A  window  open  upon  a  paved  and 
busy  street  does  not  allow  him  to  recognize, 
by  the  sound  of  the  step,  the  rustle  of 
skirts,  etc.,  who  enters  the  room,  to  hear 
the  clock,  to  tell  what  is  going  on  in  the 
next  room. 

Since  no  one  can  tell  with  exactness 
whence  a  sound  comes,  but  since  this  power 
of  recognition  can  be  improved  by  practice, 
for  example,  in  learning  to  turn  the  head  so 
as  to  profit  by  the  difference  of  impression 
made  upon  the  two  ears  according  as  one 
or  the  other  is  turned  towards  the  origin 
of  the  sound,  it  is  useful  to  take  a  blind 
man  often  to  the  theatre,  preferably  to 
seats  in  front,  near  the  stage,  and  to  tell 
him  the  chief  movements  of  the  actors.  If 
he  has  a  seat  at  one  side,  the  blind  person 
cannot  get  any  idea  relative  to  the  move- 
ment of  the  players.  Theatrical  represen- 


REPLACING   SIGHT   BY   OTHER   SENSES     9 

tations  are  likewise  excellent  practice  for 
learning  to  classify  voices  according  to 
their  timbre  and  to  note  their  peculiarities. 

I  will  say  here  that  to  interest  the 
blind  at  a  play  it  is  necessary,  so  far  as 
possible,  to  give  him  first  an  idea  of  the 
piece  by  a  prior  analysis,  and  then,  when 
the  curtain  goes  up  on  each  act,  to  tell  him 
the  stage  settings  and  the  names  of  the 
persons  in  the  scene. 

To  recognize  a  speaker  by  his  voice  is  a 
faculty  the  more  important  for  the  blind  to 
develop,  as  he  must  make  use  of  it  in  order 
not  be  too  much  bewildered  in  a  gathering 
of  several  persons. 

An  experienced  blind  man  can  tell,  I  am 
informed,  by  the  sound  of  his  step  whether 
the  ground  is  dry  or  wet,  if  he  is  walking 
near  or  far  from  a  wall,  if  he  is  entering  a 
large  or  small  sized  room. 

To  inform  himself  by  the  ear  such  a  blind 
person,  as  I  could  cite,  knows  how  to  make 
use  of  sounds  which  he  makes  himself,  —  for 
example,  the  sound  produced  when  he  strikes 
the  ground  with  his  cane,  or  when  he  makes 


10  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

with  his  lips  a  little  dry,  sharp  sound  like 
that  of  a  kiss.  I  do  not  know  how  far 
adults  can  make  use  of  these  means. 

In  every  case  there  is  an  auditory  im- 
pression which  improves  usefully  and  rap- 
idly. It  is  that  of  the  shades  of  expression 
which  betray  an  involuntarily  expressed 
sentiment.  Deprived  of  the  evidences  which 
the  expressions  of  the  face  and  the  involun- 
tary gestures  of  his  interlocutors  give,  the 
blind  is  only  the  more  attentive  to  the  into- 
nations ;  and  he  may  draw  true  profit  from 
the  art  of  listening,  in  which  he  ought  to 
try  to  become  an  expert. 

Along  with  hearing,  smell  may  give  some 
information  about  objects  which  are  beyond 
the  reach  of  the  blind  person's  hands.  I 
have  never  seen  that  there  was  any  advan- 
tage in  methodically  exercising  smell.  With- 
out being  told,  blind  men  in  whom  this  sense 
is  developed  use  it  to  recognize  a  store  when 
passing.  He  who  would  obtain  from  smell 
all  the  information  possible  ought  to  refrain 
from  smoking  and  taking  snuff.  Tobacco 
destroys  smell  in  a  very  marked  degree. 


REPLACING   SIGHT   BY   OTHER   SENSES     11 

Finally,  touch,  of  which  no  one  is  wholly 
deprived,  is  for  the  blind  the  most  precious 
of  his  senses ;  and  it  is  possible  to  increase 
by  training,  not  its  sensitiveness,  but  its 
usefulness. 

One  who  sees,  in  carrying  his  finger  over 
Braille  writing,  is  unable  to  feel  the  arrange- 
ments of  the  points  which  a  blind  person 
recognizes  without  hesitation.  It  is  not 
that  the  finger  of  the  seer  is  less  sensitive, 
but  because  he  does  not  know  how  to  feel. 
This  distinction  is  not  a  quibble.  I  will 
give  as  proof  that,  having  made  the  mistake 
at  first  of  using  only  the  forefinger  of  my 
right  hand  for  reading  Braille,  it  is  much 
more  difficult  for  me  to  read  with  my  left 
index  finger:  and  yet,  far  from  being  in- 
creased, the  sensitiveness  of  my  right  index 
finger  has  been  very  noticeably  diminished 
by  the  rubbing.  Especially  when  I  have 
read  much  under  this  finger  the  points  seem 
soft  and  cottony,  while  they  appear  almost 
pricking  to  the  left  forefinger.  In  spite  of 
this  greater  sensitiveness,  the  left  finger  is 
much  less  handy  for  reading  than  the  right. 


12  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

Other  blind  persons  have  noticed  the  same 
fact. 

The  most  practised  blind  reader  will  not 
always  recognize  a  letter  of  Braille  writing 
when  he  puts  his  finger  on  that  letter.  The 
points  and  their  respective  arrangement  are 
perceived  easily  only  through  the  friction 
which  they  exert  upon  the  skin  of  the 
finger,  and  for  this  perception  to  be  sharp 
the  rubbing  must  be  neither  too  slow  nor 
too  fast.  One  of  the  secrets  wholly  subcon- 
scious to  the  blind  reader  is  to  move  the  fin- 
ger with  the  greatest  speed  compatible  with 
perception  of  the  points,  pressing  on  just 
enough  not  to  fatigue  the  tactile  sensitive- 
ness. There  was  here  a  whole  physiologic 
study  to  undertake,  similar  to  that  which  I 
had  before  made  upon  reading  among  those 
who  have  sight.  The  blind  who  are  em- 
ployed at  manual  labor  often  find  it  an 
advantage  to  use  for  reading  the  index 
finger  of  the  left  hand,  the  skin  of  which 
is  less  thickened. 

These  observations  lead  me  to  think  that, 
when  he  knows  his  letters,  the  adult  who 


REPLACING   SIGHT   BY   OTHER  SENSES     13 

wishes  to  practise  reading  Braille  will  find 
every  advantage  by  reading  at  first  works 
which  he  already  knows  or  which  he  has 
had  read  to  him  previously.  In  an  hour 
one  will  read  aloud  to  him  more  than  he 
will  read  in  a  week,  and  he  ought  to  read  as 
rapidly  as  possible,  guessing  at  the  words  so 
as  not  to  stop  moving  the  finger  with  the 
speed  most  favorable  to  the  touch. 

In  institutions  for  the  young  blind  they 
do  not  fail  to  put  into  the  children's  hands 
numerous  objects  to  teach  them  forms  :  there 
is  need  to  do  nothing  of  this  kind  for  the 
blind  who  has  seen.  But  for  the  "  represen- 
tation "  of  forms  by  sketches,  geographical 
maps,  etc.,  there  is  some  advantage  in  spe- 
cial teaching  material,  and  an  excellent  use 
of  idle  moments  is  to  run  the  fingers  over 
one  of  these  relief  maps  which  are  used  to 
teach  blind  children. 

With  a  similar  idea  they  make  in  Ger- 
many anatomical  models  for  the  education 
\  of  blind  masseurs,  upon  which  the  nerves 
and  vessels  are  marked  in  relief. 

The  cane  which  the  blind  makes  use  of 


14  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

may  rightly  be  considered  as  a  prolongation 
of  the  tactile  sense.  This  long  feeler  is 
much  more  delicate  if  the  cane  is  replaced 
by  a  light  wand.  I  am  never  without 
the  blackthorn  switch  which  was  given  me 
by  my  distinguished  confrere,  Dr.  Vosy  of 
Choisy-le-Roi.  It  serves  me,  so  to  speak, 
as  an  antenna,  and  saves  me  from  carrying 
my  hands  stretched  out  when  I  go  about. 
About  twenty  centimetres  from  the  handle 
there  is  attached  a  cord  of  the  same  length, 
ending  in  a  button  or  a  hook  which  fastens 
in  a  buttonhole  of  my  coat.  Owing  to  this 
contrivance,  I  unhook  the  wand  almost 
solely  for  walking.  It  is  free  enough  to  be 
used  with  the  left  hand  without  unfastening. 
Besides,  I  avoid  breaking  it  when  I  sit  down 
carelessly,  which  did  happen  when  the  but- 
ton was  attached  to  the  end  by  a  short  cord. 
Whether  it  be  in  a  crowd,  as  on  leaving  the 
theatre,  or  on  a  call  in  an  unfamiliar  room, 
I  walk  with  this  stick  ahead  of  me,  moving 
it  back  and  forth  horizontally,  the  ferrule 
near  the  ground.  In  the  street,  on  the  arm 
of  an  untried  friend,  especially  of  a  lady,  I 


REPLACING   SIGHT   BY   OTHER   SENSES     15 

feel  much  more  secure  if  I  have  a  cane  in 
my  hand  with  which  to  touch  obstacles  at 
need.  I  believe,  too,  that  its  use  warns 
passers  of  the  approach  of  a  blind  person 
and  leads  them  to  make  room.  However, 
the  fine  way  appears  to  be  to  go  about  with- 
out a  cane,  and  the  old  pupils  of  the  National 
Institute  of  Paris  try  to  distinguish  them- 
selves by  this  from  the  less  expert  blind. 

To  sum  up,  the  blind,  to  guide  them, 
make  use  of  all  other  senses  save  sight,  in- 
cluding also  at  times  a  sixth  sense,  which 
will  be  considered  in  Chapter  XXV. 


m 

HOUSEHOLD   OCCUPATIONS 

LATHE  and  carpentry  work  are  not  be- 
yond the  reach  of  the  blind;  and  I  know 
some  who  are  happy  and  proud  in  making 
wooden  and  pasteboard  boxes  and  who  do 
bookbinding :  these  are  harmless  pleasures 
dear  to  those  born  blind.  Having  practised, 
in  my  childhood,  turning  and  other  manual 
arts,  I  should  not  have  the  courage  to  spend 
much  time  making,  rather  badly,  useless 
articles.  He  who  loses  his  sight  when 
relatively  old  has  neither  the  patience  nor 
the  naive  illusions  of  those  born  blind  who 
take  pleasure  hi  manual  occupations ;  he  has 
not  had  the  time  to  become  reconciled  to  the 
excessive  slowness  in  everything  which  is 
forced  upon  those  who  work  without  seeing. 

The  blind  may  make  himself  useful  by 
contributing  to  the  household  work,  particu- 
larly in  families  of  small  means.  It  would 

16 


HOUSEHOLD   OCCUPATIONS  17 

take  too  much  space  to  reproduce  here  all 
that  was  written  me  on  this  subject  by 
M.  Bonnet,  of  Toucy  (Yonne),  who  after 
having  had  very  bad  sight  became  wholly 
blind  at  the  age  of  thirty-two.  Few  of  our 
companions  will  carry  their  skill  as  far  as 
my  correspondent,  who  does  not  fear,  for 
example,  to  light  and  keep  up  the  fire,  and 
who  assumes  the  greater  part  of  the  work 
of  keeping  the  house  tidy.  He  has  gone  so 
far  as  to  invent  a  blacking  easy  for  him  to 
handle,  the  formula  of  which  he  will  send 
to  those  who  ask  it.  His  greatest  pleasure 
is  to  busy  himself  with  the  care  of  little 
children,  being  their  companion  as  they  grow 
up  and  taking  them  as  guides  on  errands 
which  are  beyond  their  years. 

However  that  may  be,  nothing  prevents 
the  blind  from  sawing  and  splitting  the  kin- 
dling wood,  laying  the  fires  in  the  grates, 
going  to  the  cellar  for  wine,  uncorking  the 
bottles,  laying  and  clearing  the  table,  wash- 
ing and  putting  away  the  dishes,  shelling 
the  beans,  making  the  beds,  sweeping  the 
chambers,  and  cleaning  the  area  yard.  All 


18  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

this  calls  for  only  a  little  practice  and  a  few 
tricks  of  the  hand. 

For  instance,  to  make  up  a  bed,  the 
blind  person,  after  putting  two  chairs  side 
by  side  facing  each  other  to  hold  the  bed- 
ding, takes  care  before  taking  off  each  sheet 
to  tie  a  knot  in  it  so  as  to  be  sure  when  he 
puts  it  back  not  to  place  at  the  head  of  the 
bed  the  part  of  the  sheet  which  had  been  at 
the  foot.  For  sweeping  he  makes  a  good 
clear  space  by  carrying  successively  all  the 
chairs  to  that  part  of  the  room  where  he  is 
not  working. 

In  the  country,  while  the  rest  of  the 
family  is  away  at  work  in  the  fields,  he 
can  distribute  the  fodder  to  the  cattle  and 
keep  the  house.  I  have  been  told  of  one 
born  blind  who  takes  great  satisfaction  in 
bottling  his  own  wine;  so  much  the  better 
for  him,  but  as  it  is  impossible  for  him  to 
fill  the  bottles  clear  to  the  top,  the  work  is 
rather  troublesome. 

This  last  instance  seems  to  me  well  chosen 
to  show  that  often  the  household  duties 
which  the  blind  can  fulfil  serve  only  to  give 


HOUSEHOLD   OCCUPATIONS  19 

him  the  sense,  or  illusion,  of  being  useful. 
That  in  itself  is  something. 

For  children  who  become  blind  very  young, 
household  occupations  are  an  excellent  form 
of  primary  education ;  a  mother  will  easily 
resolve  to  have  the  child  shell  the  beans.  And 
right  here  I  urge  upon  those  who  have  the 
care  of  very  young  blind  children  to  isolate 
these  children  as  little  as  possible.  In  spite 
of  the  dangers,  much  more  imaginary  than 
real,  of  so  doing,  they  ought  to  send  the 
little  ones  to  the  dame-school  if  there  is  one 
in  the  neighborhood  and  even  to  the  pri- 
mary school.  For  them  the  inability  to  see 
is  made  up,  in  a  measure,  by  the  absence  of 
distractions,  and,  if  the  teachers  put  ever 
so  little  good  will  into  it,  the  children  learn 
something,  and  above  all  they  are  filled  with 
the  desire  to  learn.  If,  besides,  you  get  some 
"  pointers  "  from  a  blind  school,  you  can  put 
the  child  in  the  way  at  home  of  profiting 
by  the  teachings  he  will  receive  at  the  special 
schools.  For  every  reason  the  little  blind 
child  must  not  be  constantly  tied  to  its 
mother's  apron  strings. 


IV 

PROFESSIONAL  OCCUPATIONS 

I  KNOW  no  better  way  to  begin  this  chap- 
ter than  by  translating  a  passage  from  a 
letter  sent  me  by  M.  Riggenbach,  himself 
blind  and  Professor  of  Theology  at  the 
University  of  Bale.  "  I  am  convinced," 
writes  M.  Riggenbach,  "  that  the  adult  be- 
coming blind  ought  to  continue  in  his  pro- 
fession in  every  case  in  which  it  is  possible, 
and  not  to  allow  himself  to  be  stopped  by 
the  difficulties  at  the  start.  If  he  is  obliged 
to  change  his  work,  he  must  choose  a  new 
one  which  will  put  certain  obligations  on 
him  and  not  leave  him  the  choice  constantly 
of  working  or  doing  nothing. 

"  The  blind,  moreover,  can  find  satisfac- 
tion in  existence  only  if  he  does  not  live  for 
himself  alone ;  if  he  can  have  the  assurance 
of  being  a  useful  member  of  society  and  of 
contributing  his  share  to  the  general  good. 

20 


PKOFESSIONAL   OCCUPATIONS  21 

"  It  is  a  mistake  to  limit  one's  efforts  to 
distracting  the  blind.  On  the  contrary  you 
must  engage  them  in  work  and  in  using  all 
their  energies,  but  they  must  not  expect  to 
get  exactly  the  same  situations  as  those 
who  see.  For  all  this,  it  may  happen  that 
the  blind  has  a  very  pleasant  and  very 
agreeable  lot.  For  myself  I  am  well  satis- 
fied to  have  been  able  to  keep  on  with  my 
studies  and  to  have  reached  a  university 
position." 

It  is  impossible  to  say  more. 

However,  I  ought  to  say  that,  as  M. 
Biggenbach  lost  his  sight  at  the  age  of 
fifteen,  his  position  was  somewhat  peculiar. 
He  became  blind  just  about  the  time  when 
a  man  chooses  his  career. 

For  those  who  become  blind  later  on  the 
choice  of  a  career  is  no  longer  to  be  made. 
It  is  then  a  question  of  making  a  decision ; 
it  is  necessary  to  brace  oneself  either  to 
keep  on,  if  this  be  possible,  in  the  former 
occupation,  or  to  change  suddenly  one's 
direction,  taking  account,  in  the  choice  of 
the  new  route,  both  of  the  knowledge  pre- 


22  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

viously  acquired  and  of  external  circum- 
stances. This  is  good  advice  to  follow, 
not  only  for  those  who  have  just  lost  their 
sight,  but  especially  for  those  who  are 
threatened  with  blindness. 

Thus,  one  of  my  correspondents,  M. 
Camille  Lemaire,  an  architect,  finding 
himself  threatened  with  blindness,  devoted 
himself  to  the  history  of  architecture. 
Otherwise  in  this  line  of  work  he  could 
only  have  stayed  blind.  It  is  important 
not  to  fall  into  the  absurd  error  of  having 
one  about  to  lose  his  sight  spend  weeks  or 
months  of  rest ;  he  ought  as  far  as  possible 
to  be  left  to  his  occupation  and  usual 
resources. 

Another  of  my  correspondents,  M.  Som- 
mer,  adapted  his  conduct  very  fully  to  the 
above  indications,  and  added  to  them  some- 
thing more  of  a  very  ingenious  turn.  He 
has  been  able  to  make  a  profit  out  of  his 
blindness  by  starting  at  Bergedorf,near  Ham- 
burg, a  kind  of  homelike  boarding  house 
for  the  blind  of  both  sexes  and  all  ages 
who  may  have  the  means  of  paying  for  his 


PROFESSIONAL   OCCUPATIONS  23 

hospitality.  Dr.  Sommer  first  spent  a  year 
at  the  Institution  for  the  Blind  at  Ham- 
burg, to  familiarize  himself  with  methods 
in  use  at  establishments  of  this  kind ;  then, 
equally  to  increase  his  special  teaching 
knowledge  and  to  perfect  himself  in  the 
use  of  modern  languages,  he  made,  before 
founding  his  establishment  at  Bergedorf,  a 
rather  long  stay  in  England  and  in  France. 
You  will  see  in  Chapter  XI  some  of  the 
adventures  which  marked  the  Odyssey  of 
M.  Sommer. 

Since  in  this  little  book  I  ought  to  dwell 
upon  my  own  case  especially,  I  will  state 
how  much  the  very  idea  even  of  writing  the 
present  volume  entered  into  the  programme 
about  to  be  expounded.  For  forty  years  I 
have  been  busied  with  the  physiology  of 
the  organs  of  sense,  and  yet,  while  following 
the  profession  of  an  oculist,  I  have  not 
allowed  myself  to  be  carried  away  by  the 
practice  of  this  means  of  making  a  liveli- 
hood, to  the  point  of  losing  interest  in  socio- 
logic  matters.  I  have  been  a  Deputy,  and 
a  member  of  many  associations  for  general 


24  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

helpfulness.  All  this  past  seemed  to  me  a 
useful  point  of  departure  from  which  to 
make,  with  results,  the  researches  and  in- 
quiries which  have  resulted  in  this  book. 
Like  the  architect  of  whom  I  have  spoken, 
who,  being  unable  to  design,  busied  himself 
with  the  history  of  his  art,  I  thought  that, 
being  no  longer  able  to  do  operations  upon 
the  eyes  or  make  optical  experiments  in 
the  laboratory,  I  could  make  others  profit 
by  putting  together  my  knowledge. 

I  have  divided,  as  far  as  possible,  among 
the  members  of  my  large  family  the  cares 
with  which  they  wished  to  surround  me 
and  which  it  would  be  disagreeable  to  ask 
of  a  stranger ;  and  since  no  one  is  my  espe- 
cial secretary  I  have  reserved  to  myself  the 
sorting  of  my  papers  in  portfolios  which 
bear  the  titles  on  the  back  both  in  ink  and 
in  raised  points.  A  faithful  friend  of  very 
varied  learning  comes  from  time  to  time  to 
keep  me  in  touch  with  the  scientific  and 
literary  work  of  our  period.  I  ask  no 
member  of  my  family  to  read  what  can  be 
read  by  a  servant,  such  as  the  papers,  for 


PROFESSIONAL   OCCUPATIONS  25 

instance,  or  to  go  with  me  on  my  errands. 
Thanks  to  this  arrangement,  one  or  another 
of  them  can  travel  without  remorse  at  leav- 
ing me  for  weeks  or  months  ;  their  freedom 
is  respected  as  well  as  mine. 

I  said  that  I  had  to  give  up  optical  re- 
search and  consultation.  This  is  not  abso- 
lute. My  successor  at  the  Sorbonne  does  me 
the  kindness  to  come  and  tell  me  from  time 
to  time  what  is  being  done  at  the  laboratory 
where  he  was  a  long  time  my  junior ;  and 
if  some  old  patient  insists  on  consulting  me, 
I  call  in  to  receive  him  an  assistant  who 
for  twelve  years  helped  me  in  my  private 
work,  and  who,  being  a  good  observer,  de- 
scribes to  me  the  condition  of  the  invalid 
and  thus  gives  me  the  illusion  of  being  still 
useful  as  a  physician. 

It  is  for  each  one  to  choose  between  my 
method  of  doing  and  that  of  a  very  intelli- 
gent blind  man,  an  old  inventor,  who  had 
a  happy  fortune  in  the  choice  of  a  person 
whose  permanent  collaboration  gave  him 
entire  satisfaction.  He  had  taught  her  that 
very  difficult  art  of  telling  what  she  saw 


26  ON   BECOMING   BLIND 

and  keeping  her  place.  For  instance,  if  he 
had  a  calculation  to  make,  the  help  consisted 
in  her  doing  nothing  mentally  and  of  call- 
ing out  the  figures ;  the  blind  man  was  thus 
obliged  to  follow  the  process  himself  all  the 
time. 

Intermediate  between  these  two  systems  is 
that  of  M.  Riggenbach.  I  quote  verbatim :  — 

"  My  duty  as  professor  of  theology  obliges 
me  to  have  permanently  an  educated  secre- 
tary who  helps  me  in  my  scholastic  work. 

"  The  work  of  the  secretary  is  very  wear- 
ing, and  the  one  who  assists  me  does  not  re- 
main as  a  rule  more  than  one  or  two  years 
with  me. 

"  Naturally  this  arrangement  has  its  dis- 
advantages, for  it  necessitates  my  getting 
used  rather  often  to  a  new  person  and  each 
assistant  learning  my  way  of  work  and  my 
processes.  This  demands  on  both  sides  good 
will  and  patience,  but  working  with  an 
assistant  younger  than  I  am  brings  also  its 
stimulus,  and  there  has  always  arisen  a  last- 
ing friendship  between  me  and  my  secre- 
taries. 


PROFESSIONAL   OCCUPATIONS  27 

"  My  secretary  also  accompanies  me  most 
of  the  time  at  my  work." 

Thus  to  train  a  coworker  with  the  cer- 
tainty of  having  to  part  with  him  must  be 
a  trying  effort  for  one  who  has  not  the  lofty 
soul  of  my  Bale  correspondent. 

As  a  remarkable  example  in  the  list  of 
schemes  considered  in  this  chapter,  it  is  in- 
teresting to  cite  Dr.  Vosy  of  Choisy-le-Roi, 
who  continues  the  practice  of  medicine,  and 
in  two  ways,  either  by  going  as  consultant 
with  his  confreres  of  the  vicinity  or  in  at- 
tending cases  of  labor.  It  appears  that  for 
certain  young  women  the  blindness  of  Dr. 
Yosy  is  even  an  additional  reason  for  em- 
ploying his  services. 

This  leads  me  to  recall  that  in  Japan  the 
blind  have  the  monopoly  of  massage.  It 
seems  to  me  that  had  my  loss  of  sight  been 
accompanied  by  falling  into  poverty,  I 
should  not  have  hesitated  to  make  my- 
self skilled  in  the  technique  of  massage; 
I  suggest  this  idea  to  my  confreres  with 
the  greater  confidence  since  there  is  al- 
ready in  Paris  a  blind  masseur  who,  with- 


28  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

out  being  a  physician,  succeeds  in  earning 
his  living. 

That  I  may  not  be  accused  of  forgetting, 
I  ought  to  recall  that  for  more  than  half 
a  century  the  blind  have  been  taught  to 
make  baskets,  to  weave  mats,  to  make 
brooms,  to  measure  cloth,  and  to  reseat 
chairs,  for  which  opportunities  offer  in  all 
countries.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  even 
for  those  born  blind  these  are  trades  of  the 
smallest  recompense. 

A  musician  becoming  blind  might,  if  not 
too  old,  take  up  the  work  of  tuning  pianos, 
but  if  he  did  not  also  add  the  work  of 
attending  to  organs,  the  outlook  would  not 
be  brilliant.  There  is  no  use  in  trying  to 
teach  the  piano.  Not  being  able  to  watch 
the  position  of  the  pupil's  hands  nor  to 
read  the  notes  with  him,  he  could  only  hope 
to  get  lessons  at  the  lowest  terms.  I  have 
met  blind  persons  who  gave  lessons  in 
modern  languages,  always,  however,  for  the 
lowest  price. 

It  may  be  said  in  general  that  those  who 
Jose  their  sight  late  in  life,  though  they 


PROFESSIONAL  OCCUPATIONS  29 

may  be  much  less  adroit  in  getting  about 
than  those  who  are  born  blind,  are  in  a 
much  better  position  to  do  well  such  acts 
as  they  are  familiar  with.  Their  previous 
knowledge  of  the  visible  world  makes  them 
apt  in  those  duties  the  learning  of  which  is 
very  hard  for  the  blind  from  birth. 

For  instance,  the  study  of  French  or- 
thography is  enormously  hard  for  a  blind 
person ;  if  he  succeeds  in  mastering  it,  it  is 
thanks  only  to  perseverance  and  the  con- 
centration which  often  results  from  being 
undistracted  by  sight.  For  a  blind  person 
who  knows  unhesitatingly  his  spelling, 
there  is  nothing  easier  than  typewriting. 
It  is  objected  that  typewriters  are  usually 
stenographers ;  this  is  true,  but  the  blind 
can  confine  himself  to  making  copies, 
having  the  notes  read  to  him  by  a  less 
scholarly  person.  He  may  also  hope  for 
employ  in  one  of  those  large  firms  where 
the  head  dictates  his  correspondence  to  a 
phonograph,  dividing  the  cylinders  among 
several  typewriters. 

Helmholtz  told  me,  in  1867,  that  in  the 


30  ON  BECOMING   BLIND 

choice  of  his  work  he  was  guided  by  the 
consideration  of  a  kind  of  inventory  which 
he  had  made  of  his  mathematical  and 
musical  aptitude,  of  his  physiological  and 
anatomical  knowledge,  and  of  the  means  at 
his  disposal  in  the  laboratory  at  Heidelberg; 
then,  recognizing  that  all  these  circum- 
stances rarely  were  found  brought  together, 
he  came  to  the  conclusion  that  by  devoting 
himself  to  a  scientific  study  of  music  and 
audition  he  might  succeed  in  making  dis- 
coveries which  had  escaped  mathematicians, 
physicians,  physiologists,  and  musicians, 
more  eminent  than  he,  each  in  his  own 
branch. 

It  is  by  a  process  quite  analogous  that 
one  becoming  blind  late  in  life,  after  having 
made  review  of  the  means  at  his  disposal, 
can  make  a  wise  choice  of  a  new  career. 


NEATNESS,   HYGIENE,   HEALTH 

So  far  as  the  care  of  their  bodily  neatness 
goes,  nothing  prevents  the  blind  from  doing 
exactly  as  those  who  see.  They  who  have 
been  used  to  shave  themselves  can  con- 
tinue to  do  so,  and  if  they  are  afraid  of 
cutting  themselves,  they  may  use  a  safety 
razor. 

There  is  reason,  however,  to  call  the 
attention  of  the  blind  particularly  to  the  care 
given  the  hands,  so  much  more  exposed  to 
being  soiled,  as  they  are  used  to  supplement 
the  sight ;  and  since  the  blind  may  be  led 
without  knowing  it  to  touch  objects  of  doubt- 
ful cleanness.  I  will  cite  but  one  example  : 
some  fashionable  staircases  are  broken  at 
each  turn  by  wooden  posts  considered 
decorative,  which  easily  allow  the  dust  to 
accumulate  upon  the  hand-rail,  since  their 
inconvenience  prevents  most  people  using 

31 


32  ON  BECOMING  BLIND 

them  ;  when  I  go  up  such  a  stairway  I  take 
care  to  touch  only  my  nails  to  the  rail. 

The  blind  do  not  like  to  wear  gloves,  and 
they  are  right.  I  happened  on  a  journey  to 
meet  two  brothers,  one  of  whom  was  blind, 
and  at  the  first  meeting  I  had  no  hesitation 
in  telling  the  blind  one  by  the  fact  that  he 
wore  no  gloves. 

The  clothing  of  the  blind  is  particularly 
liable  to  be  soiled,  either  at  home,  while 
eating,  for  instance,  or  on  the  street  by 
contact  with  the  walls  or  passers,  or  by 
spattering,  owing  to  their  inability  to  avoid 
puddles  of  water  or  mud.  In  wet  weather 
the  blind  who  go  out  alone  are  much  more 
liable  to  dirty  their  clothes  than  those 
who  are  accompanied,  for,  in  order  to  avoid 
stumbling  on  going  up  or  down  crossings, 
they  are  in  the  habit  of  raising  the  feet 
high,  and  the  fall  each  time  causes  spatter- 
ing. 

It  is  for  the  household  of  the  blind  to 
watch  over  the  tidiness  of  his  clothes,  and 
it  adds  much  to  the  repute  of  his  family 
that  the  repulsion  caused  by  neglected 


NEATNESS,   HYGIENE,   HEALTH          33 

apparel  is  not  added  to  the  other  causes 
of  isolation  of  which  he  is  the  victim. 

Although  I  have  put  into  practice  from 
the  first  the  principles  of  antisepsis,  I 
believe  the  fashion  which,  under  the  pre- 
text of  hygiene,  does  away  with  all  hang- 
ings in  the  room  to  be  extreme.  It  results, 
in  much-used  rooms,  in  a  noisiness  which  is 
the  foe  of  good  acoustics.  Seeing  nothing, 
it  is  well  to  hear  the  best  possible,  and  to 
this  end  I  greatly  prefer  to  live  in  a  room 
whose  walls  are  hung  with  tapestry. 

More  than  printed  books,  volumes  in 
Braille  may  be  vehicles  of  contagion ;  they 
may  have  been  read  in  bed,  or  even  under 
the  covering  of  the  bed,  by  blind  persons 
having  a  contagious  disease,  and  who  have 
constantly  handled  them  while  reading,  and 
it  is  by  still  fingering  them  that  we  read. 
Institutions  which  lend  books  to  the  blind 
ought  to  take  cognizance  of  this  danger, 
which  is  no  small  one. 

To  have  done  with  borrowed  books:  I 
would  recommend  not  moistening  the  read- 
ing finger  with  the  tongue,  and  this  is  a 


34  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

privation;  for  when  a  page  is  dusty,  or 
simply  when  the  sensitiveness  of  the  finger 
begins  to  tire,  one  can  give  a  little  more 
delicacy  to  the  touch  when  rubbing  the 
finger  over  a  surface,  by  slightly  moisten- 
ing the  tip. 

In  a  general  way,  it  seems  to  me  that 
great  care  should  be  given  to  the  hygiene 
of  the  blind,  because  in  their  condition  ill- 
ness is  particularly  hard  to  bear ;  but  there 
is  no  need  to  carry  to  the  extreme  an  obedi- 
ence to  the  Draconic  prescriptions  of  many 
hygienists,  who  think  nothing  of  depriving 
their  clients  of  the  most  moderate  pleasures 
of  the  table.  To  act  thus  toward  the  blind 
is  an  exaggeration  in  which  the  family 
ought  not  to  become  an  accomplice.  I 
speak  disinterestedly,  for  I  am  the  least 
gourmand  of  men,  and  I  insist  that  the 
blind  be  left  in  all  reasonable  degree  all 
the  pleasures  of  good  food,  coffee,  pousse- 
caf  e,  and  tobacco.  If  this  causes  him  to 
die  a  little  sooner,  which  I  doubt,  you  will 
at  least  have  spared  one  of  the  few  material 
pleasures  left  him. 


NEATNESS,   HYGIENE,   HEALTH          35 

In  1834,  for  the  first  time,  practical  gym- 
nastic instruction  was  introduced  in  the 
School  for  the  Blind  at  Pesth.  This  train- 
ing was  developed  by  Klein  at  the  Blind 
School  in  Vienna.  Following  the  sporting 
tendency  of  the  English,  we  would  expect 
to  find  gymnastics  more  especially  devel- 
oped in  their  schools,  and  in  this  matter  the 
one  at  Norwood  is  very  remarkable.  Exer- 
cises are  carried  to  truly  astonishing  feats 
of  acrobatics. 

Nothing  prevents  a  blind  person  from 
doing  most  of  the  feats  which  suit  his 
taste.  He  can  compete  with  his  friends 
who  see  in  agility  upon  the  parallel  bars 
or  the  trapeze,  etc.,  but  it  is  always  an 
effort  for  him  to  go  to  a  gymnasium  and 
make  a  show  of  himself.  On  the  other 
hand,  I  think  it  is  very  advantageous,  if 
one  has  the  courage  to  overcome  the  ennui, 
to  set  oneself  at  home  to  exercise  with 
machines,  or,  for  example,  with  dumb-bells. 
Especially  on  days  when  bad  weather  pre- 
vents going  out  on  foot  or  on  a  tricycle, 
gymnastic  exercises  of  this  kind  appear  to 


36  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

me  very  recommendable.  The  deep  ennui 
which  makes  them  so  much  shunned  by 
those  who  see  ought  not  turn  the  blind 
from  them,  as  he,  on  the  contrary,  may 
find  in  them  during  his  hours  of  solitude  a 
healthful  occupation. 

Chamber  gymnastics,  an  antidote  for  the 
almost  absolute  immobility  in  which  he 
lives,  seem  to  me  decidedly  indicated  for 
the  blind.  He  will  never  take  too  much ; 
he  must  be  urged  to  take  enough. 

As  regards  medicines :  it  is  well  for  the 
blind  to  be  able  to  give  them  to  himself 
without  error,  especially  such  as  are  to  be 
taken  at  night.  This  can  be  done.  For 
instance,  I  often  take  calomel  pills  on  going 
to  bed.  Instead  of  having  them  in  different 
sizes,  I  have  them  all  of  one  centigramme,  so 
that  I  have  only  to  take  several  from  the 
same  box,  in  case  of  need.  I  have  equally 
in  the  same  box  other  pills  which  by  their 
hardness  or  their  size  keep  me  from  mis- 
taking them  for  the  former  kind. 

In  case  of  sleeplessness  I  have  from  time 
to  time  to  take  one  or  two  teaspoonfuls  of 


NEATNESS,   HYGIENE,    HEALTH          37 

syrup  of  chloral.  For  this  purpose  I  have 
always  on  my  table  two  little  flasks,  each 
holding  just  one  teaspoonful.  It  is  prac- 
tically impossible  for  me  to  measure  alone 
the  exact  amount  to  take  from  a  bottle,  and 
it  seems  cruel,  just  in  order  to  get  help  for 
my  sleeplessness,  to  disturb  the  slumber  of 
another  in  the  middle  of  the  night  by  ring- 
ing a  bell. 


VI 
DWELLING 

I  HAVE  had  occasion  in  the  course  of 
my  medical  practice  to  persuade  a  patient 
threatened  with  blindness  to  purchase  a 
residence,  so  as  not  to  be  exposed  to  the 
danger  of  a  forced  change  of  home.  For, 
indeed,  to  a  blind  man  a  change  of  dwell- 
ing-place is  almost  a  disaster.  For  myself, 
and  in  this  I  believe  that  I  am  not  the  only 
blind  one,  every  displacement,  even  the 
slightest,  of  surrounding  objects,  is  most 
displeasing.  It  is  a  pleasure  for  me  to  be 
able  without  hesitation  to  put  my  hand 
upon  my  books,  my  familiar  things ;  I  like 
to  know  where  the  objects  are  among  which 
I  have  lived,  and  it  would  be  a  pitiful  effort 
for  me  to  try  and  picture  them  to  myself 
elsewhere  than  where  I  have  long  seen  them. 

In  daily  life  we  respect  in  my  home 
Franklin's  maxim,  "A  place  for  everything 

38 


DWELLING  39 

and  everything  in  its  place."  Everything 
after  use  is  immediately  replaced,  for  ex- 
ample, chairs  which  may  have  been  moved 
by  a  visitor.  If  a  stranger  comes  to  visit 
me,  I  am  left  alone  with  him,  and  I  have 
no  need  of  any  one  to  put  any  paper  in  his 
hand  or  to  show  him  the  use  of  my  optical 
instruments.  I  go  about  the  house  with- 
out fear,  and  the  more  freely  since  I  have 
always  with  me  one  of  the  light  wands  of 
which  I  spoke  above. 

It  is  necessary,  I  have  heard  it  said,  in 
the  dwelling  of  the  blind,  for  the  doors  to 
be  always  open  or  shut.  I  am  not  of  this 
opinion.  Let  us  admit,  indeed,  that  the 
family  have  trained  themselves  never  to 
leave  the  doors  half  open ;  one  day,  when 
a  stranger  has  neglected  this  precaution, 
the  blind  person,  full  of  confidence,  runs 
into  the  door  and  bruises  his  forehead.  The 
harm  is  not  great,  but  if  you  wish  to  avoid 
it,  it  is  best  to  take  no  precautions.  Pro- 
vided the  blind  never  goes  ahead  without 
moving  the  tip  of  his  stick  back  and  forth 
in  front  of  him,  his  security  is  perfect. 


40  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

I  believed  at  first  that  the  better  to  rec- 
ognize my  whereabouts  I  would  do  well  to 
place  markers,  for  example,  along  the  wall ; 
thanks  to  my  stick,  this  has  not  been  useful. 
In  a  very  large  house  it  would  be  conven- 
ient to  have  in  certain  places  paths  of  car- 
pet or  linoleum,  but  I  have  not  felt  the 
need  for  them. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  a  garden,  even  the 
best  known,  I  feel  myself  lost.  Passing 
some  time  in  the  country,  I  finally,  upon  the 
advice  of  my  friend,  Dr.  Chibret,  had  a  cord 
stretched  to  follow  a  certain  path  and  so 
travelled  about  like  a  tramway  guided  by 
its  trolley.  In  the  case  of  a  permanent 
establishment,  I  would  have  a  strip  of  as- 
phalt or  concrete  laid  in  the  line  of  a  walk, 
to  make  a  path  where  I  could  walk  freely 
while  reading  some  light  book  printed  in 
raised  type. 

As  I  go  to  bed  much  later  than  the  rest 
of  my  family,  I  have  had  put  in  my  bed  an 
electric  coil  which  allows  me,  by  means  of 
a  switch,  to  warm  my  feet  without  disturb- 
ing any  one. 


DWELLING  41 

To  be  able  to  call  for  help  in  case  of  need, 
wherever  I  may  be,  in  the  house  or  in  the 
garden,  I  make  use  of  a  whistle,  which  I 
always  carry  in  my  pocket.  Mine  is  an 
English  one  of  characteristic  note. 

A  means  for  calling,  which  Mr.  Kenneth 
Scott  showed  me  as  used  by  the  Orientals, 
is  to  strike  with  three  fingers  of  the  right 
hand  in  the  slightly  hollowed  palm  of  the 
left. 


VII 

MEALS 

SAVE  for  rare  exceptions,  those  born  blind 
eat  untidily  and  constantly  put  their  fingers 
in  their  plate.  Persons  who  lose  their  sight 
know  without  being  told  how  disagreeable 
the  appearance  of  this  is.  Accordingly,  they 
will  do  well  to  restrain  themselves  from 
the  start  from  ever  using  their  fingers  for 
eating. 

Meals  being  for  the  blind  the  pleasantest 
moments  of  life,  it  is  very  important  for 
him  to  train  himself  to  eat  properly,  so  that 
he  may  feel  in  position  to  accept  an  invita- 
tion out.  One  cannot  therefore  go  too  much 
into  details  upon  this  topic. 

The  first  precaution  to  take  is  to  fasten 
on  the  chest  a  napkin  to  prevent  spotting. 
There  is  no  need  for  this  napkin  to  fall  un- 
expectedly. The  simple  means  to  avoid  this 
is  to  make  in  one  corner  a  little  knot,  which 

42 


MEALS  43 

is  tucked  between  the  neck  and  the  collar 
of  the  shirt.  The  napkin  then  remains  as 
securely  in  place  as  if  it  were  fastened  with 
a  button. 

The  most  difficult  proceeding  is  to  eat 
soup  properly.  One  can  do  this  by  tipping 
the  spoon  a  little  before  carrying  it  to  the 
mouth,  in  such  a  way  that  it  is  not  too  full. 

Certain  acts  are  impossible,  but  they  are 
not  indispensable.  Thus  I  have  given  up 
putting  mustard  upon  my  meat  in  suitable 
amounts.  To  the  difficulty  which  the  blind 
experiences  in  doing  everything  without 
help,  there  is  this  counterbalance,  that  his 
neighbor  at  the  table  always  is  glad  to  help 
him.  I  have  learned  to  let  my  neighbor 
do  me  little  services  even  when  I  have  no 
need  of  them.  By  putting  the  index  finger 
of  my  left  hand  a  little  into  the  glass,  I  can 
easily  pour  my  own  drinking  water.  But 
what  advantage  ?  If  my  neighbor  is  happy 
to  cut  my  meat  and  my  other  neighbor  pro- 
poses to  pick  the  bones  from  my  fish,  why 
should  I  deprive  them  of  this  pleasure? 
One  of  my  correspondents  makes  use  of  a 


44  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

plate  divided  in  the  bottom  by  a  ridge  so  as 
to  separate  the  meat  and  the  vegetables. 

At  the  start  I  got  myself  a  fork  made  of 
aluminum.  The  lighter  the  fork  is,  the 
more  easily  one  appreciates  the  weight  of 
the  morsel  which  is  picked  up ;  if  it  is  too 
heavy,  it  is  put  back  on  the  plate  and  cut 
again.  As  a  matter  of  fact  this  help  is  no 
longer  very  useful  to  me,  and  I  am  assured 
that  I  eat  sufficiently  well  to  venture  into  a 
considerable  company. 

More  than  once  friends  with  whom  I 
dined  have  had  the  bright  idea  to  keep  the 
servant  with  whom  I  came,  to  help  in  the 
service.  This  servant,  knowing  my  habits, 
helps  me  to  portions  as  I  need  them  without 
my  saying  anything,  and  fills  my  glass  so 
that  no  one  is  bothered  with  me :  and  the 
conversation,  which  to  my  mind  is  all  the 
pleasure  of  the  meal,  is  not  interrupted  by 
material  cares. 

If  the  person  who  serves  me  is  a  neighbor 
just  met,  I  obtain  almost  the  same  result  by 
having  him  read  me  the  menu  at  the  be- 
ginning of  the  dinner  and  telling  him  at 


MEALS  45 

one  time  what  I  intend  to  eat.  If  I  do  not 
do  this,  my  inexperienced  neighbor  waits 
for  me  to  ask  what  the  dish  next  him  may 
be,  and  if  by  chance  I  am  in  the  act  of 
speaking,  he  waits  till  I  have  finished  my  sen- 
tence. There  results  a  delay  in  the  service, 
and  the  attention  of  the  diners  is  directed 
to  us,  to  the  detriment  of  the  conversation. 
If  the  meal  is  the  best  time  for  the  blind, 
it  is  due  to  this,  that  he  finds  himself  in  the 
society  of  persons  immobile  in  fixed  places, 
and  that  in  consequence  he  can  take  part  in 
the  general  conversation  without  the  in- 
tolerable preoccupation  of  the  coming  and 
going  of  his  interlocutors.  There  alone  is 
he  sure  of  not  talking  to  a  person  who  has 
just  gone  off ;  there,  too,  being  told  at  the 
start  the  position  occupied  by  each  one,  he 
has  no  need  to  make  an  effort  to  recognize 
by  the  voice  the  different  persons  who  take 
part  in  the  conversation.  Be  the  repast 
ever  so  mediocre,  the  good  humor  of  the 
company  helping,  the  blind  man  can  for 
an  hour  enjoy  society  almost  as  well  as 
they  who  see. 


46  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

If  the  pleasure  of  being  at  table  with  good 
society  is  real  for  those  to  whom  almost  all 
other  pleasures  are  denied,  how  much  greater, 
is  it  not,  if  he  can  give  it  to  himself  in  his 
own  home,  where  he  always  feels  more  at 
ease  and  where  he  has  the  advantage  of 
choosing  table  companions  to  his  taste! 
Batzko  has  said  that  two  happinesses  only 
are  accessible  to  the  blind :  that  of  gather- 
ing his  friends  about  his  table,  and  that  of 
thinking  of  the  compensations  which  are 
reserved  for  him  in  a  better  world.  The 
first  appears  to  me  the  surer,  and  I  refer 
those  who  prefer  the  second  to  Batzko' s 
book.1 

1  Batzko,  Ludwig  von,  "  Ueber  mich  selbst  mid  meine 
Unglucksgefaehrten  die  Blinden."  Paul  Gotthelf, 
Kunimer,  Leipzig,  1807. 


VIII 

WATCHES  AND  CLOCKS 

DUEING  the  forty  years  since  I  came  of 
age  I  have  always  kept  before  my  mind 
Franklin's  motto,  "  Time  is  the  stuff  of 
which  life  is  made."  This  stuff  I  have  never 
frittered  away;  I  have  used  the  smallest 
moments.  Accordingly,  in  spite  of  my  per- 
petual night,  wherein  I  am  very  often  sub- 
jected either  to  inactivity  or  to  the  inability 
of  escaping  from  inopportune  conversation, 
I  have  kept  a  means  of  knowing  the  time ; 
and  this  need,  poor  as  it  is,  will  be  my  ex- 
cuse for  devoting  a  chapter  to  this  question. 

There  are  watches  without  crystals  whose 
covers  open  on  pressing  a  spring.  These 
watches,  of  a  very  common  type,  are  adapted 
to  the  use  of  the  blind  by  the  addition  of 
twelve  little  metal  pegs  fastened  around  the 
circle  of  the  face,  opposite  each  numeral. 
By  touching  it  is  easy  to  tell  the  position  of 

47 


48  ON  BECOMING  BLIND 

the  hands  accurately  enough  to  tell  the  time 
almost  to  the  minute.  One  should  accustom 
himself  from  the  first  to  use  only  the  left 
hand  for  taking  out  the  watch,  opening  it, 
and  feeling  the  hour.  He  should  train  for 
this  last  work  solely  the  left  thumb. 

If  you  are  willing  to  be  satisfied  with  less 
accuracy,  you  may  get  one  of  those  big  old 
watches,  now  out  of  fashion,  which  were 
called  turnips.  On  opening  the  glass,  you 
can  feel  the  hands.  I  find  it  pleasant  also 
to  carry  a  repeater.  Nothing  prevents  the 
combining  of  these  two  systems  and  having 
a  repeater  arranged  to  show  the  time  by  the 
touch. 

It  would  be  hard  for  me  to  give  up  hav- 
ing on  my  bedstand  at  night  a  little  travel- 
ling clock  which  strikes  the  hour,  for  in  case 
of  waking  in  the  night,  it  is  much  easier  to 
get  to  sleep  again  if  you  can  tell  the  time 
simply  by  pressing  a  spring. 

A  luxury  which  can  be  had  at  little  cost, 
since  a  Black  Forest  cuckoo  clock  fills  the 
need,  is  to  have  a  clock  whose  pendulum 
makes  enough  noise  to  be  heard  in  all  parts 


WATCHES   AND   CLOCKS  49 

of  the  room.  It  is  a  good  means  of  orien- 
tation. Another  luxury  is  to  place  in  the 
room  a  clock  which  strikes  each  quarter  of 
an  hour  in  a  different  way.  Lost  in  space,  I 
find  the  greater  satisfaction  in  always  know- 
ing where  I  am  as  to  time,  which  for  them 
who  see  needs  only  a  glance  of  the  eye. 

It  happens  that  in  my  workroom  I  have 
two  clocks  which  naturally  do  not  run  ex- 
actly in  time  together;  when  by  any  dis- 
traction I  lose  the  time  struck  on  the  one, 
my  attention  is  sufficiently  roused  to  count 
the  strokes  as  sounded  on  the  second. 

Lastly,  to  close,  here  is  a  trick  by  which 
you  can  tell  the  time  in  the  night  without 
other  aid  than  an  ordinary  watch.  Wind  your 
watch  slowly  exactly  at  the  time  you  wound 
it  the  night  before,  and  count  the  clicks. 
You  may  find,  for  example,  that  there  are  one 
hundred  forty-four,  and  you  figure  that  there 
is  one  click  for  each  ten  minutes.  If  you 
have  wound  your  watch  before  going  to  bed 
and  on  waking  in  the  night  wish  to  know  the 
time,  wind  it  again  slowly,  and  for  each  click 
that  you  hear  ten  minutes  will  have  elapsed. 


IX 

WALKING  IN  TOWN  AND  COUNTRY 

IT  is  important  for  the  blind  not  to  lose 
the  habit  of  going  about  afoot,  and  it  is 
pleasant  for  the  walk  to  take  place  without 
preoccupation  on  his  part  while  chatting 
with  his  guide.  To  this  end  it  is  better 
for  the  blind  to  place  his  arm  under  that 
of  his  guide,  which  allows  him  to  be  a  little 
more  behind.  Every  time  he  must  raise  his 
foot,  for  example  up  on  to  the  sidewalk,  the 
conductor  sharply  raises  his  forearm  a  little 
bit.  At  this  sign  the  blind  lifts  his  foot  so 
as  not  to  stub  it,  and  if  necessary  uses  his 
cane  to  determine  the  exact  position  of  the 
obstacle  to  be  avoided.  On  the  other  hand, 
to  warn  of  a  step  down,  the  guide  presses 
his  arm  against  his  side  as  if  to  keep  the 
blind  one  from  falling  in  a  trench. 

The  various  persons  with  whom  the  blind 
has  occasion  to  go  out  ought  all  to  make  use 

60 


WALKING  IN   TOWN   AND   COUNTRY     51 

of  the  same  signals  as  have  just  been  ex- 
plained, for  if  each  one  uses  a  different 
warning,  the  blind  man  is  confused.  This 
is  so  true  that  I  know  of  blind  persons 
who  have  with  the  greatest  difficulty  decided 
to  make  a  change  in  their  guide.  There 
is  a  double  indication  to  be  followed :  for 
the  associates  of  the  blind  always  to  make 
use  of  the  same  signs,  and  for  the  blind  to 
resolve  to  accept  from  other  persons  a  dif- 
ferent course  of  action.  With  an  unaccus- 
tomed guide,  after  showing  him  how  to  do, 
the  blind  must  know  how  to  resign  himself 
if  his  directions  are  not  followed. 

Most  blind  persons  like  to  take  a  child  as 
their  leader,  not  only  as  being  cheaper,  but 
especially  because  a  very  young  companion 
is  accustomed  to  obey.  The  child,  if  it  has 
a  good  disposition,  is  proud  of  the  importance 
of  its  r61e  and  put  upon  its  mettle  to  do  its 
best.  It  is  exceedingly  pleasant  for  me  to  walk 
in  the  country  under  the  guide  of  one  of  my 
grandchildren,  and  I  am  sure  that  whoever 
has  the  honor  of  leading  his  grandfather  finds 
pleasure  in  it  and  perhaps  some  moral  profit. 


52  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

In  town  I  prefer  the  arm  of  an  old  ser- 
vant, who  has  tact  enough  to  keep  out  of 
the  way  when  he  has  put  me  in  touch  with 
the  person  with  whom  I  have  business.  If, 
for  example,  a  friend  meets  me  and  enters 
into  conversation,  my  guide  discreetly  steps 
aside  until  the  interview  is  over. 

The  one  indication  which  they  who  lead 
the  blind  ought  to  follow  is  not  to  try  and 
conceal  the  condition  of  their  protege*.  For- 
merly the  blind  carried  a  placard,  and  I  recall 
seeing  a  man  go  about  the  streets  of  London 
preceded  by  a  little  dog.  This  intelligent 
animal  always  kept  taut  the  cord  which  the 
blind  master  held  in  one  hand,  while  with  the 
other  he  held  a  stick  with  which  he  sharply 
struck  the  ground  at  each  step  along  the 
walls  of  the  houses,  crying  without  ceasing, 
"Blind!  blind!  blind!"  All  the  passers 
turned  out  for  him,  and  the  man  went  about 
in  the  most  crowded  streets  of  the  city. 
Most  sightless  persons  are  averse  to  such 
a  proceeding  and  wish  their  infirmity  to 
pass  unnoticed.  This  ill-placed  pride  can 
only  threaten  their  safety,  but  should  be 


WALKING  IN   TOWN   AND   COUNTRY     53 

respected.  My  opinion  in  this  matter  is 
that,  if  at  times  the  guide  finds  it  useful 
to  warn  the  passers,  he  should  do  it  in  such 
a  manner  that  the  blind  does  not  notice  it. 

Following  the  example  of  Dr.  Sommer,  I 
wear  constantly  smoked  glasses,  which  hide 
the  unpleasant  stare  resulting  from  blind- 
ness and  which  attract  usefully  the  attention 
of  the  passer ;  and  no  one  takes  it  ill  that  my 
guide,  by  signs  or  words,  endeavors  to  make 
my  passage  everywhere  as  easy  as  possible, 
and  that,  for  example,  in  the  street  railway 
he  asks  a  traveller  to  give  up  his  seat  to  me. 

In  Paris,  and  probably  in  most  cities,  the 
sidewalks  have  a  fall  toward  the  gutter,  a 
slope  less  than  that  of  the  curve  of  the 
street,  but  very  perceptible  to  the  blind. 
After  a  short  apprenticeship  this  fall  warns 
of  the  approach  to  the  crossing  if  one  does 
not  walk  too  fast.  To  tell  the  small  un- 
evennesses  of  the  road,  it  is  well  to  wear 
shoes  whose  soles  are  not  too  thick. 

To  tell  if  there  is  water  in  the  gutter,  the 
blind  can  swish  his  cane  in  it  and  tell  by 
the  sound  if  the  ditch  is  dry  or  not. 


54  ON   BECOMING   BLIND 

They  who  become  blind  young  make  use 
of  other  indications,  such  as  the  sound  of 
their  footfall.  They  use  also  perhaps  the 
"  sense  of  obstacles,"  which  will  be  discussed 
in  Chapter  XXV. 

A  trained  guide  leads  his  companion  with- 
out jostling  in  the  most  crowded  streets ; 
if  they  wish  to  avoid  any  one,  he  hastens 
his  steps  a  little  and  turns  a  bit  sideways, 
and  the  blind  man,  warned  by  this  double 
movement,  falls  behind  his  guide  and  is  not 
jostled  by  the  careless  passer.  Other  times 
the  guide  by  a  sign  causes  the  passer  to 
dodge,  without  the  blind  one  knowing  the 
fact.  Opposed  to  this  constant  watchful- 
ness, in  wide  and  less  frequented  streets  the 
companions  may  cease  holding  arms  and 
walk  side  by  side ;  the  sound  of  the  guide's 
steps,  the  conversation,  or  the  least  contact 
suffice  to  assure  the  blind  of  his  direction. 

It  is  indeed  a  satisfaction  for  him  to  keep 
in  his  movements  as  far  as  possible  the 
greatest  independence.  He  does  not  like  to 
be  dragged  or  pushed  about  like  an  inani- 
mate object  5  and  this  is  doubtless  one  of 


WALKING   IN   TOWN   AND   COUNTRY     55 

the  reasons  why  many  blind  persons  are 
averse  to  going  about  with  any  one  who  is 
unaccustomed  to  leading  them. 

If  on  reaching  his  destination  it  is  neces- 
sary for  him  to  go  upstairs,  the  guide  lets 
go  and  places  the  blind  one's  hand  on  the 
baluster.  By  keeping  his  hand  well  ad- 
vanced, the  blind  has  a  guide  which  tells  him 
of  the  approach  to  the  landings.  This  is 
self-evident,  but,  like  many  other  facts,  why 
has  it  nowhere  been  stated  ?  For  walking 
in  narrow  paths  across  fields,  and  above  all 
in  the  mountains,  it  is  well,  while  holding  a 
cane  in  one  hand,  to  be  united  to  the  guide 
by  another  stick  held  horizontally.  After 
some  practice  this  stick  becomes  a  suffi- 
ciently sure  means  of  communication,  so 
that  blind  men  have  been  seen,  when  pre- 
ceded by  an  experienced  guide,  to  make 
long,  hard  ascensions.  There  are  all  sorts 
of  tastes  in  the  world ! 

I  may  even  cite  blind  persons  who  find 
pleasure  in  riding  horseback.  It  is  needless 
to  say  that  they  do  not  choose  mettlesome 
horses,  and  I  know  only  of  Dr.  Armitage 


56  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

who  has  had  a  serious  accident  while  follow- 
ing this  sport. 

I  doubt  if  a  person  becoming  suddenly 
blind  late  in  life  ever  dares  to  go  about  alone, 
either  in  the  city  or  in  the  country.  It  may 
be  well,  nevertheless,  to  show  what  those 
who  are  born  blind  are  capable  of  doing  in 
this  line.  I  have  seen,  among  others,  the 
Swiss  Joseph  Birrer  follow  the  trade  of  a 
pedler,  going  from  village  to  village;  and 
quite  recently,  at  Paris,  a  blind  man  living 
in  the  Rue  des  Petits  Carreaux,  in  the  crowded 
quarter  of  the  Halles,  took  long  walks  alone. 
He  had  always  about  him  cigars  and  candies, 
which  he  offered  according  to  circumstances 
to  the  men  or  children  who  came  to  his 
assistance.  Equipped  constantly  with  a 
cane  and  an  umbrella,  he  took  advantage 
of  the  least  shower  to  open  the  latter,  find- 
ing in  its  use  a  very  easy  means  of  knowing 
the  vicinity  of  houses. 

The  blind,  either  in  the  country  or  in  the 
city,  go  about  much  more  easily  at  night 
than  in  the  day,  for  then  the  fewer  noises 
and  less  confusion  are  a  great  help  to  their 


WALKING  IN   TOWN   AND   COUNTRY     57 

guidance.  I  have  been  told  of  one  who 
under  these  circumstances  never  went  out 
without  a  lantern,  so  as  not  to  be  run  down 
by  bicyclists. 

In  any  case  the  blind  can  have  recourse 
to  a  public  carriage  to  take  him  in  case  of 
need  to  his  home  or  to  the  house  of  a  friend. 
It  seems  to  me  imprudent  to  trust  oneself  to 
an  unknown  driver  without  having  ostenta- 
tiously had  his  number  taken  by  a  third 
person. 

Persons  who  are  gradually  losing  their 
sight  have  the  very  greatest  reason  for  con- 
tinuing to  go  about  without  a  guide,  in  spite 
of  the  alarm  of  their  family.  They  learn  thus 
little  by  little  to  substitute  for  the  informa- 
tion furnished  by  the  sight  those  indications 
with  which  this  chapter  has  been  dealing.  In 
proportion  as  their  blindness  increases,  they 
will  have  to  curtail  the  extent  of  their  walks. 
On  the  contrary,  they  who  become  suddenly 
blind  and  wish  to  go  out  alone  as  much  as 
possible  will  begin  with  very  little  walks 
close  to  their  house,  being  watched  over  till 
they  have  acquired  a  sufficient  assurance. 


58  ON   BECOMING   BLIND 

By  this  order  of  things  I  have  actually 
practised  myself  to  cross  the  boulevard  on 
which  I  live,  in  order  to  be  able  at  night, 
when  I  go  to  bed  the  last,  to  go  alone  to 
mail  an  urgent  letter. 


TANDEM   TRICYCLE 

WHEN  I  lost  my  sight,  one  of  my  first 
occupations  was  to  find  a  form  of  physical 
exercise  active  enough  to  fill  the  needs  of 
my  temperament,  as  I  have  always  badly 
borne  a  sedentary  life.  Being  a  fair  bicyclist, 
my  first  idea  was  to  get  about  on  a  tandem 
bicycle.  This  would  have  been  easy  enough 
on  condition  of  always  having  at  my  dis- 
posal a  trained  wheelman,  which  is  almost 
impossible  of  realization.  I  then  consulted 
Mr.  Pierre  Giffard,  the  well-known  manager 
of  the  paper  Le  Velo,  and,  after  ruling  out 
the  tandem,  we  also  put  aside  the  sociable, 
in  which  the  two  persons  ride  side  by  side, 
to  adopt  the  tandem  tricycle. 

After  having  gone  about  for  several  weeks 
on  such  a  tricycle,  I  wrote  to  Mr.  Giffard  a 
letter,  which  he  published  in  Le  Velo.  The 
important  passages  were  :  — 


60  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

"  Even  more  than  they  who  see,  the  blind 
need  exercise,  for  all  day  long,  without  tak- 
ing note  of  it,  the  most  sedentary  person 
makes  many  small  movements :  he  rises  to 
get  something,  turns  his  head  to  speak  to 
some  one,  stoops  to  pick  up  a  fallen  object, 
etc. ;  while  the  sightless  stays,  even  when 
he  is  able  to  be  occupied,  in  a  relatively 
unmoving  posture. 

"  *  Do  gymnastics  in  your  room/  says 
some  one.  That  is  easy  to  advise,  but  deadly 
tiresome  to  do.  Try  with  your  eyes  shut 
and  alone  to  practise  dumb-bells.  You  will 
tell  a  different  story.  After  five  minutes 
you  will  be  at  the  end  of  your  patience  and 
will  have  scarcely  used  up  a  calorie,  which 
is  the  purpose  of  bodily  exercise.  To  burn 
up  any  number  of  calories,  one  must  bring 
into  action  his  large  muscular  masses.  It 
is  for  this  reason  that  the  best  sports  are 
those  which  put  into  action  the  large 
muscles  of  the  thighs  and  legs.  I  bring  to 
proof  the  learned  studies  of  my  friend  Lucas 
Championniere. 

"  For  the  blind,  riding  a  tricycle  is  better 


TANDEM   TEICYCLE  61 

than  walking  afoot,  for,  however  little  con- 
fidence he  has  in  his  guide,  the  blind  man, 
who  it  is  understood  takes  the  rear  seat  on 
the  tricycle,  takes  his  exercise  without  any 
preoccupation,  while  in  walking  he  has  to 
give  some  attention  to  going  up  and  down 
the  sidewalks.  In  crossing  the  streets  he 
must  hasten  or  slow  his  steps,  or  stop  on 
signal  from  the  guide,  while  on  the  tricycle 
nothing  of  the  sort  occurs.  He  conforms 
almost  automatically  to  the  quickening  or 
slowing  of  the  pedals  of  the  man  in  front.  If 
a  sudden  stop  is  necessary,  the  leader  blows 
the  horn  and  at  the  same  time  back-pedals 
or  puts  on  the  brake.  The  blind  one  does 
not  hesitate  to  back-pedal  also ;  and,  thanks 
to  the  stability  of  the  machine,  the  easily 
made  sudden  stops  allow  progress  without 
danger  in  the  most  crowded  thoroughfares. 

"Your  advice  led  me  to  adopt  for  the 
trips  I  wish  to  make  a  means  of  transport 
at  once  hygienic,  economical,  and  speedy. 

"  It  is  to  be  noticed  that  it  is  cleaner  than 
a  bicycle,  for  a  mud  guard  on  the  front 
is  sufficient. 


62  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

"  While  the  adoption  of  a  fixed  route  is 
uninteresting  for  my  guide,  I  find  it  pleasant 
to  be  able,  if  I  give  attention,  to  know  all 
the  time  where  I  am.  I  recognize  perfectly 
the  curve  which  makes  me  swing  round  the 
fountain  in  the  Place  Francois  I,  the  descent 
from  this  place  to  the  Avenue  Montaigne. 
The  noise  of  the  carriages  tells  me  of  cross- 
ing the  Rue  Pierre  Charron.  I  know  by  the 
different  roll  on  the  pavement  the  moment 
when  we  pass  into  the  Avenue  Alma,  etc. 

"If  you  wish  further  details,  come  and 
get  them.  I  offer  you  the  front  seat  on 
my  tricycle  to  go  some  Sunday  together  to 
breakfast  in  the  country.  We  will  chat  it 
over  on  the  way.  But  I  make  one  condi- 
tion ;  the  first  kilo  or  so  is  to  be  made  in 
silence,  for  you  are  too  much  accustomed 
to  a  bicycle  to  succeed  at  first  on  a  three- 
wheeler  without  accident.  Look  out  for 
your  trial  trip.  Mounted  on  a  tricycle,  the 
most  expert  bicyclist  begins  by  running 
into  the  gutter." 

After  three  years  of  use  I  can  say  that 
the  tricycle  has  done  more  than  I  expected. 


TANDEM   TRICYCLE  63 

At  first  I  found  it  very  unpleasant  to  be  at 
the  mercy  of  a  guide  in  the  most  crowded 
and  noisy  parts  of  the  city.  It  took  a  good 
deal  of  force  to  throw  off  this  wretched 
feeling  by  telling  myself  that,  after  all,  one 
is  in  much  greater  risk  in  a  cab  which  may 
be  drawn  by  a  vicious  horse  or  driven  by  a 
drunken  cabby.  I  have  become  used  also 
to  the  side  rolling  which  the  tricycle  has,  as 
the  inequalities  of  the  street  cause  one  or 
the  other  side  wheel  to  rise  or  fall. 

Besides  this  rolling,  the  tricycle  has  other 
faults.  The  principal  one  is  that  it  is  hard 
to  apply  a  brake  to  the  rear  wheels.  If  it 
is  put  on  the  wheels,  its  action  is  unequal, 
and  because  of  the  differential  it  cannot  be 
put  on  the  axle.  There  is  fear  also  of  the 
chain  breaking  while  going  down  hill 
rapidly.  You  must  be  content  to  go  down 
steep  hills  slowly  enough  so  that,  if  the 
chain  does  break,  a  stop  can  be  made  by  the 
front  rider,  either  by  the  brake  or,  what  is 
surer,  by  braking  with  his  foot. 

Another  inconvenience  of  the  tricycle  is 
that  punctures  are  more  frequent  than  with 


64  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

a  bicycle ;  since  the  wheels  follow  three 
trajectories,  there  are  three  times  as  many 
chances  of  picking  up  a  nail. 

My  first  machine,  bought  on  a  chance, 
had  unequal  wheels,  the  front  wheel  being 
of  much  larger  diameter  than  the  rear 
wheels.  I  do  not  know  if  this  arrange- 
ment has  any  advantage;  probably  it  has, 
for  I  found  the  same  arrangement  in  the 
only  other  tandem  tricycle  I  have  had  oc- 
casion to  examine.  But  it  is  certain,  on 
the  other  hand,  that  it  is  an  advantage,  so 
far  as  repairs  are  concerned,  to  have  the 
wheels  of  the  same  diameter;  for  it  is  suffi- 
cient in  such  cases,  when  starting  for  a  long 
trip,  to  carry  a  single  extra  inner  tube. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  use  a  machine 
made  by  the  FranQaise  Co.  to  the  follow- 
ing specifications :  the  machine  as  short  as 
possible,  2.10  m. ;  the  frame  very  strong, 
with  double  cross-bars,  0.55  m.  high ;  the 
wheels  strong  with  steel  felloes,  0.65  m. ; 
pneumatic  tires,  0.42  m. ;  single  air  cham- 
ber; brake  on  the  front  wheel  controlled 
by  a  simple  lever.  The  machine  weighs 


TANDEM   TRICYCLE  65 

32  kg.  The  pedals  are  sharply  bent  back, 
which  saves  the  feet  in  passing  through  mud 
and  which  does  not  offer  the  same  incon- 
veniences in  a  tricycle  as  on  a  bicycle. 

The  machine  which  I  use  every  day  and 
which  gives  me  entire  satisfaction  develops 
exactly  5  m.  This  is  not  much,  but  it 
is  not  desirable  to  go  fast.  To  know  the 
distance  travelled,  I  have  only  to  divide  the 
number  of  pedal  strokes  of  one  foot  by  two 
and  multiply  by  ten.  It  is  interesting  at 
the  foot  of  a  slope  to  ask  the  guide  to 
estimate  the  length,  so  as  to  tell  at  each 
moment  if  the  effort  caused  by  the  ascent 
is  to  be  much  longer;  and  as  the  5-metre 
distance  permits  an  easy  control  of  the 
estimates,  the  guide  soon  comes  to  make 
them  exact. 

The  spacing  of  the  rear  wheels  is  such 
that  the  machine  can  pass  through  a  door 
0.80  m.  wide,  which  in  the  city  avoids  the 
need  of  opening  the  porte  cochere.  In  the 
country  I  prefer,  as  giving  less  oscillation, 
to  use  my  old  machine,  in  which  the  space 
is  0.25  m.  greater. 


66  ON  BECOMING  BLIND 

There  can  easily  be  a  lady's  saddle  on 
either  the  front  or  rear  seat,  according  to 
the  sex  of  the  leader  or  the  blind  person. 

If  the  frame  is  weak,  it  may  become 
twisted.  In  this  case  the  machine  tends  to 
swerve  to  the  right  or  left.  However  slight 
this  may  be,  no  delay  should  be  had  in 
rectifying  it,  else  the  frame  bends  more  and 
more ;  and  at  the  most  unexpected  moment 
the  front  wheel  bends  into  a  figure  eight, 
a  most  serious  accident,  as  the  blind  man 
lacks  notably  the  power  of  decision  in 
emergencies. 

The  idea  of  having  the  blind  ride  wheels 
is  not  new.  It  has  been  the  custom  espe- 
cially at  Norwood,  where  there  is  a  sort  of 
series  of  twelve  courses,  of  which  only  the 
first  and  second  are  used  by  those  who  can 
see. 

I  learn,  too,  that  there  are  in  France  at 
least  three  blind  persons  who  use  a  tandem 
tricycle  :  one  near  Saint-Nazaire,  another  at 
Melun,  and  the  third  at  Brienne-le-Chateau. 


XI 

TRAVELLING 

MANY  blind  persons  have  a  fondness  for 
travelling,  either  to  meet  those  whose  con- 
versation gives  them  pleasure,  or  just  to 
enjoy  the  sounds  of  nature ;  witness  the 
account  by  Guilbeau  of  a  walking  tour  in 
the  mountains. 

Others  travel  to  earn  their  living,  as  by 
giving  concerts  or  tuning  pianos  at  houses, 
often  in  a  considerable  radius.  You  may 
read  in  the  little  book  of  Nageli's1  the 
adventures  of  the  blind  pedler,  J.  Birrer,  who 
in  all  weathers  went  alone  from  village 
to  village  selling  his  goods.  At  each  inter- 
national congress  of  typhlophiles  you  see 
blind  persons  who  have  come  alone  from 
different  parts  of  Europe.  Often  the  blind 
one  has  himself  driven  to  the  station  in  a 

1  Nageli,  Sonderbare  Errinerungen  und  merkwiirdige 
Lebensfahrten  des  Jacob  Birrer.    Lucerne,  1840. 
67 


68  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

cab,  where  he  is  put  with  his  baggage  in  the 
care  of  a  porter.  I  know  one  who,  if  he  is 
to  stop  in  a  strange  city,  sends  a  letter 
ahead  to  the  station-master,  telling  the  time 
of  his  arrival  and  asking  to  be  met  on  the 
platform  by  one  of  the  service  men,  who 
will  put  him  in  the  omnibus  of  the  hotel 
to  which  he  is  going. 

In  the  course  of  a  journey  it  seems  un- 
wise to  depend  on  the  good  services  of  the 
other  travellers,  save  such  as  are  offered 
freely,  which  often  happens,  especially  when 
travelling  third  class.  The  only  help  one 
should  ask  of  them  is  to  be  put  into  the 
hands  of  one  of  the  station  men,  who  will 
for  a  bit  of  silver  generally  do  gladly  all 
that  is  needed.  By  this  means  M.  Haupt- 
vogel  came  from  Leipzig  to  Paris  by  the 
ordinary  trains,  without  missing  any  change 
of  cars  at  the  junctions,  which  is  the  chief 
difficulty. 

There  are  some  hotels  patronized  by  a 
clientele  of  the  blind ;  for  example,  in  Paris, 
furnished  rooms  at  4  Eue  Bertrand,  quite 
near  the  Institution,  and  in  London  the 


TRAVELLING  69 

pension  of  Miss  Blott,  30  St.  Charles  Square, 
North  Kensington,  W. 

When  the  blind  man  arrives  at  any  hotel, 
he  does  wisely  to  take  the  first  pretext  to 
give  at  the  start  a  rather  large  tip  to  those 
servants  whose  services  he  will  need ;  by  so 
doing  he  will  want  for  nothing  at  the  table 
d'hote  and  will  not  be  at  the  mercy  of  his 
next  neighbor. 

I  know  a  blind  man,  a  devoted  traveller, 
who  tries  to  appear  as  little  awkward  as 
possible.  To  attain  this  he  has  made  a 
number  of  ingenious  observations.  For  ex- 
ample, he  knows  that  to  get  into  a  beach- 
wagon,  if  there  are  two  steps,  he  must,  if  he 
is  on  the  left  of  the  wagon,  begin  by  put- 
ting his  right  foot  on  the  lowest  step ;  if  he 
starts  with  his  left,  he  is  lost. 

I  do  not  delude  myself  as  to  the  useful- 
ness of  this  chapter,  for  I  have  as  yet  found 
but  few  persons  who  lost  their  sight  late  in 
life  who  have  the  courage  to  travel  alone 
despite  the  opposition  of  their  family. 
M.  Sommer,  of  Bergedorf,  near  Hamburg, 
writes  me  as  follows  :  — 


70  ON   BECOMING   BLIND 

"  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  journeys  taken 
alone  without  a  guide  contribute  greatly  to 
strengthen  the  confidence  of  the  blind  in 
themselves  and  to  render  them  independent. 
I  have  made  the  f  olio  wing  trips  alone  :  from 
Hamburg  to  Harwich  by  the  English  steam- 
packet.  For  a  tip  the  steward  had  the 
kindness  to  come  to  my  aid.  At  Harwich 
he  went  with  me  and  my  luggage  as  far 
as  the  train  which  took  me  to  London. 
At  London  I  was  met  by  a  lady  to  whom 
I  had  sent  my  photograph  so  that  she  could 
recognize  me.  During  my  stay  in  London  I 
employed  as  my  guide  a  little  boy  of  twelve. 
I  prefer  children  of  this  age,  whom  I  find 
very  useful  if  they  are  honest  and  truthful. 
I  take  care  of  my  own  linen,  arranging  my 
clothes  and  other  belongings ;  I  unpack  and 
pack  my  trunk  on  arriving  and  leaving.  I 
make  use  of  other  persons  only  for  reading. 
My  correspondence  comes  to  me  in  Braille 
and  I  reply  on  a  typewriter.  .  .  . 

"  After  a  stay  of  a  month  I  set  out  for 
Southampton.  A  railway  employee  under- 
took to  put  me  and  my  baggage  on  the 


TRAVELLING  71 

steamboat,  where  I  placed  myself  in  charge 
of  the  steward.  After  a  crossing  of  twelve 
hours  I  arrived  at  Havre .  The  gentleman  who 
was  to  have  met  me  was  not  on  the  wharf, 
so  I  passed  the  customs  and  had  myself 
taken  in  a  cab  to  the  hotel,  which  I  knew 
of  from  an  advertisement  in  the  paper.  .  .  . 
"  After  a  stay  of  six  months  I  embarked 
for  Hamburg.  It  was  in  December.  The 
packet  was  German  and  the  sea  rough. 
Since,  before  losing  my  sight,  I  had  made 
the  voyage  from  South  America  on  a  simi- 
lar boat  of  the  same  line,  it  was  possible 
for  me  to  find  my  way  about  without  a 
guide,  and  I  had  recourse  to  the  steward 
only  to  cut  up  my  food.  By  reason  of  the 
storm  we  lost  one  blade  of  the  propeller, 
which  lengthened  the  voyage,  and  made 
us  late  in  reaching  Hamburg,  where  there 
was  no  one  to  meet  me.  The  steamer  did 
not  go  to  the  wharf,  but  anchored  in  the 
middle  of  the  Elbe.  Everybody,  even  the 
surgeon,  left  the  boat  as  soon  as  he  could. 
I  alone  remained.  It  was  eight  o'clock  at 
night  and  cold,  the  thermometer  being  at 


72  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

12°  C.  I  had  to  take  an  unknown  work- 
man to  get  me  ashore  and  to  pass  my  many 
bags  through  the  customs.  We  went  down 
together,  he  carrying  my  bags,  into  a  steam 
launch  which  took  us  to  the  custom-house. 
After  the  inspection  I  took  a  carriage,  to 
which  I  intrusted  my  trunks,  and  gave  the 
driver  the  address  of  the  lodging  I  had 
engaged.  Unfortunately  they  had  sent  me 
the  wrong  number,  which  put  me  to  the 
trouble  of  hunting  the  house,  up  and  down 
the  street,  till  I  succeeded  in  finding  it. 

"If  such  adventures  are  unpleasant  at 
the  time,  you  can  get  some  satisfaction 
from  them  later  in  having  got  out  of  the 
trouble  alone.  They  all  go  to  strengthen- 
ing one's  self-confidence,  which  you  acquire 
more  by  travelling  than  by  any  other  way." 

Quite  recently,  in  speaking  of  this  subject, 
my  friend  Mounier,  of  Geneva,  wrote  me 
that  he  travelled  from  time  to  time  alone, 
although  not  obliged  to,  and  though  he  pre- 
ferred a  companion ;  he  thus  gained  a  secu- 
rity in  case  of  his  travelling  companion 
being  obliged  to  leave  him. 


XII 

OUTSIDE   ASSOCIATIONS 

IT  is  hard  for  a  blind  person  to  make 
new  associates,  and,  besides,  relations  with 
persons  whom  he  has  never  seen  are  with 
great  difficulty  brought  to  any  degree  of 
true  intimacy,  unless  by  rare  chance  there 
is  in  his  family  some  one  close  enough  of 
observation  and  expert  enough  in  describ- 
ing, to  give  him  a  picture  of  the  new 
friend. 

The  blind  has,  therefore,  the  greatest 
reason  for  keeping  up  his  old  relations ; 
every  interruption  is  a  mistake.  For  this 
reason  I  no  longer  go  back  to  the  societies 
which  formerly  I  attended  closely  for  many 
years,  such  as  the  Societe  de  Physique  and 
the  Societe*  de  Biologie,  for  the  membership 
of  these  societies  is  more  or  less  completely 
changed;  while  I  do  continue  to  attend 
the  meetings  of  the  Academy  of  Medicine, 

73 


74  ON  BECOMING  BLIND 

to  which  I  went  regularly  up  to  the  time 
of  my  misfortune.  As  a  matter  of  fact  the 
blind  is  reduced  to  conversing  with  those 
who  come  to  him,  and  in  a  gathering  of 
men  who  have  no  personal  interest  in  him 
he  is  isolated  and  more  lonely  than  in  the 
darkest  corner  of  his  own  home. 

You  must  not  think  that  people  crowd 
about  the  blind  ;  they  shun  him  as  useless. 
How  many  times  has  my  guide  told  me  of 
persons  passing  by  me  without  stopping  to 
shake  hands,  —  friends  of  yesterday  with 
whom  I  had  only  the  pleasantest  relations. 
Every  one  is  busy  and  passes  without  a 
word.  If  he  stops  with  the  blind  at  all, 
he  fears  he  will  not  be  able  to  break 
away  easily.  This  is  especially  true  of 
the  numberless  persons  with  whom  one  is 
wholly  satisfied  to  exchange  just  a  few 
words.  These  people  drop  out  of  existence 
for  the  blind. 

If  we  are  treated  thus,  it  is  often  our  own 
fault.  As  a  matter  of  fact  if  any  one  in  a 
rather  large  company  comes  up  to  converse 
with  us,  we  are  apt  to  fasten  ourselves  to 


OUTSIDE   ASSOCIATIONS  75 

this  kind  neighbor  and  stick.  This  is  a  great 
mistake ;  the  speaker,  prevented  from  min- 
gling with  the  guests,  does  not  let  himself 
be  caught  a  second  time  and  at  the  next 
meeting  avoids  accosting  us.  I  have  learned 
to  my  cost  that  in  such  cases  our  interest 
demands  our  taking  the  initiative,  and  free- 
ing the  friend  who  has  been  willing  to 
tackle  us  by  asking  him  to  put  us  in  touch 
with  some  other  person,  which  he  gladly 
does. 

Some  people  imagine  that  in  talking  with 
the  blind  they  refresh  their  sorrow  by  speak- 
ing of  things  seen.  Quite  the  contrary; 
nothing  is  pleasanter,  when  one  has  no 
sight,  than  to  be  informed,  through  the 
eyes  of  another,  of  visible  things,  however 
insignificant. 

It  happens,  too,  that  by  an  ill-judged 
discretion  or  from  timidity  they  hesitate 
to  begin  a  conversation  with  us.  They 
fear  to  disturb,  and  above  all  they  do  not 
know  how  to  start  or  to  continue  the  con- 
versation. They  refrain  at  the  first  meet- 
ing and  continue  indefinitely  to  refrain, 


76  ON  BECOMING  BLIND 

because  they  do  not  take  sufficiently  into 
account  that  one  has  only  to  talk  to  a  blind 
person  as  if  nothing  were  the  matter. 

In  meeting  the  blind,  little  things  affect 
their  spirits  disagreeably.  One  may  be  hurt 
if  he  does  not  take  the  hand  extended  to 
him,  or  if  at  the  first  word  of  friendly 
greeting  he  says,  "  Who  is  it  speaking  ?  " 

It  is  for  all  these  reasons  that  the  majority 
of  blind  people  are  led  to  shut  themselves 
up  at  home,  confining  their  relations  to 
their  family  and  the  few  true  friends  who 
continue  to  visit  them.  It  is  much  to  the 
heart,  but  monotonous  to  the  spirit. 

It  is  the  duty  of  those  who  care  for  the 
blind  to  take  him  into  society,  to  tell  him 
as  far  as  possible  who  are  the  people  pres- 
ent, that  he  may  have  a  little  initiative, 
and  to  bring  up  to  him  those  who  do  not 
come  of  their  own  accord,  not  realizing  how 
much  happiness  their  little  effort  may  give 
the  man  isolated  in  night. 

What  makes  the  position  of  the  blind 
most  particularly  trying  in  company  is  that 
he  does  not  know  when  his  interlocutor 


OUTSIDE  ASSOCIATIONS  77 

leaves.  If  he  always  has  some  one  with 
him,  his  guide  informs  him;  but  this  is  a 
hard  task  for  the  companion.  In  a  salon 
one  who  speaks  to  a  blind  person,  and  by 
rare  chance  has  taken  pains  to  tell  his  name 
at  the  beginning  of  his  conversation,,  never 
thinks  to  say  again  who  he  is  when  he  comes 
back  after  a  short  interval.  When  I  can,  I 
like  to  take  my  place  on  a  sofa  which  allows 
me  to  take  very  lightly  between  two  fingers, 
quite  unseen,  a  fold  of  the  person's  garment 
with  whom  I  am  talking,  and  who  then  can- 
not leave  without  my  knowing  it. 

It  is  not  given  to  every  one  to  have  a 
faithful  companion  who  knows  how  to 
make  him  hear  the  name  of  whoever  comes 
to  him  without  affectation,  and  as  if  address- 
ing them  to  wish  them  good  day;  who 
knows  how  in  a  conversation  to  make  the 
needful  remarks  to  save  him  from  address- 
ing some  one  who  has  just  left  or  from  call- 
ing him  to  witness  ;  who  knows  how  to 
keep  him  in  touch  with  the  movements  of 
the  guests  so  as  to  save  him  that  hateful 
thing,  speaking  to  empty  space. 


78  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

All  things  considered,  unless  he  is  accom- 
panied by  some  one  who  makes  complete 
self-sacrifice,  the  blind  ought  to  avoid  going 
into  a  large  company. 


XIII 
READING  ALOUD 

To  be  read  aloud  to  will  always  remain 
one  of  the  greatest  resources  of  the  blind ; 
but  how  inferior  to  reading  oneself ! 

As  regards  general  literature,  with  a  good 
reader  one  can  enjoy  books  well  enough. 
But  reading  the  paper !  It  takes  an  hour 
and  a  half  or  two  hours  to  read  aloud  a 
paper  of  the  most  moderate  size.  Try  the 
experiment,  noting  the  time  it  takes  to  read 
aloud  a  whole  page  of  the  paper.  You 
would  not  believe  it.  As  a  fact  the  most 
poorly  educated  person  skims  through  the 
paper  and  does  not  really  read  a  fourth  of 
it,  and  what  he  does  read  he  takes  in  at  a 
glance  with  a  speed  which  no  human  voice 
can  attain. 

Try  the  experiment;  you  will  be  sur- 
prised at  the  difference  in  speed  in  favor  of 
mental  reading.  To  follow  the  reading  of 

79 


80  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

a  paper  from  beginning  to  end  is  at  most 
acceptable  to  the  unhappy  pensioners  of 
Quinze-Vingts,  who,  seated  like  a  class, 
listen  together  to  the  reading  of  a  paper 
which  they  choose  by  an  annual  vote. 

The  ideal  would  be  for  some  one  knowing 
the  tastes  and  associations  of  the  blind  one 
(note  this  last  point)  to  read  the  paper  her- 
self, marking  the  facts  and  portions  of  arti- 
cles which  may  interest  him.  Even  then 
the  person  who  reads  aloud  the  marked 
passages  will  never  take  the  place  of  read- 
ing with  one's  own  eyes,  where  the  rate  con- 
stantly changes,  hastening  to  the  conclusion 
here,  and  slowing  there,  as  a  paragraph 
merits  attention  or  not. 

If,  with  a  great  deal  of  good  will  and 
intelligence,  the  household  of  the  blind  can 
keep  him  informed  of  the  contents  of  the 
papers,  it  is  not  so  with  the  special  reviews, 
especially  those  which  appear  in  foreign 
languages.  I  have  almost  given  up  the 
pleasure  of  following  the  progress  of  oph- 
thalmology, for  it  would  take  whole  days  to 
have  read  to  me  what  I  would  run  through 


READING  ALOUD  81 

in  a  few  minutes  a  day  in  our  special  re- 
views. 

If  I  prefer  for  a  reader  a  hired  person 
rather  than  a  friend  or  a  relative,  it  is  be- 
cause I  like  to  be  able,  with  entire  want  of 
regard  for  him,  to  skip  paragraphs,  sections, 
or  chapters,  or  to  have  repeated  important 
passages.  But  the  paid  reader  must  be 
honest  enough  not  to  skip  without  warning 
whole  pages  of  a  volume  which  bores  him. 
This  has  happened. 

One  who  feels  on  equal  footing  with  us 
hardly  tolerates  our  taking  notes  while  he 
is  reading,  either  in  ordinary  writing  or  in 
Braille.  He  is  impatient  if  we  stop  him 
for  this  purpose ;  and  if  we  let  him  keep 
on  while  we  write,  he  complains  of  our 
want  of  attention.  To  read  to  a  blind  per- 
son is  not  an  easy  task. 

I  had  read  aloud  to  me,  by  my  first 
reader,  Legouve's  "Art  of  Reading,"  but 
scarcely  had  she  got  into  the  principles  of 
the  master,  of  which  the  most  important  is 
to  pause  well  at  the  punctuation  points, 
than  I  had  to  change  her.  I  have  not  had 


82  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

the  courage  to  begin  again  so  laborious  an 
education,  and  I  content  myself  with  a 
moderately  good  reader. 

Save  with  very  rare  exceptions,  people  do 
not  pay  enough  attention  to  the  punctuation 
when  reading  aloud.  The  training,  in  this 
regard,  of  a  reader  whom  one  is  likely  to 
keep  for  a  long  time  well  repays  the  trouble. 
During  the  first  sessions  you  must  require 
without  any  mercy  at  all  a  long  pause  after 
each  sentence.  This  is  useful  for  the 
reader.  It  allows  the  listener  to  retain 
more  or  less  what  he  has  just  heard.  If 
the  reader  does  not  pause  long  enough  at 
each  period,  the  next  sentence,  as  it  were, 
wipes  out  the  preceding  from  our  mind. 
Besides,  the  pauses  are  unconsciously  used 
by  the  reader  to  read  the  next  sentence 
mentally;  as  a  result  he  places  much  better 
inflection  when  he  reads  it  aloud. 

It  is  important  also,  as  it  is  hard,  to 
oblige  the  reader  to  call  attention  so  far  as 
necessary,  to  the  marks  of  punctuation, 
such  as  quotation  marks,  parentheses,  or 
change  of  characters.  If  a  letter  occurs  in 


BEADING  ALOUD  83 

the  text,  the  reader  should  begin  with  the 
signature ;  if  a  footnote,  he  must  say  "  be- 
ginning of  the  note,"  "end  of  the  note." 

An  untrained  reader  passes  over  in  silence 
the  titles  of  chapters  or  the  numbers  of 
paragraphs. 

One  gets  great  pleasure  in  being  read  to 
while  walking  about  in  a  garden ;  it  is  a 
satisfaction  thus  to  combine  mental  refresh- 
ment with  needed  exercise.  Walking  be- 
side the  reader  and  guided  by  the  steady 
sound  of  his  voice,  it  is  agreeable  to  move 
about  thus  in  freedom.  But,  poor  reader ! 

I  know  some  blind  persons  who  have 
some  one  come  at  a  fixed  hour  to  serve  as 
reader  and  secretary.  I  wonder  at  them, 
for  I  have  never  been  able  thus  to  make 
myself  the  slave  of  set  hours  ahead.  I 
much  prefer  to  employ,  when  I  wish,  a 
person  who  is  busied  with  other  work  and 
who  returns,  for  example,  to  her  needlework, 
if  a  caller  comes  in. 

During  vacations  I  have  plays  read  to 
me  by  my  many  grandchildren,  distributing 
the  parts  among  them.  By  rivalry  they 


84  ON  BECOMING  BLIND 

have  made  themselves  perfect  in  the  art  of 
reading  aloud,  and  I  think  that  later  they 
will  have  a  pleasant  memory  of  the  happi- 
ness which  they  gave  their  grandfather. 
This  kind  of  theatre  in  an  arm-chair  has 
given  me  a  choice  recreation. 


XIV 

HANDWRITING 

THE  question  of  writing  presents  itself  to 
one  who  becomes  blind  in  quite  another  aspect 
than  it  does  to  one  blind  from  birth.  It  is 
almost  impossible  for  the  latter  to  learn  the 
ordinary  form  of  writing,  while  for  one  who 
has  written  much  it  is  not  hard  to  continue, 
in  spite  of  the  loss  of  sight.  If,  then,  writ- 
ing by  points,  devised  about  a  century  ago 
by  Captain  Barbier  and  of  which  Braille  was 
the  Amerigo  Vespucci,  is  almost  exclusively 
used  in  blind  asylums,  it  seems  to  me  to 
hold  only  a  secondary  place,  in  the  means 
for  inscribing  his  thoughts,  at  the  disposal 
of  one  who  has  lost  his  sight  at  a  relatively 
late  age. 

Any  one  can  assure  himself  of  this.  Noth- 
ing is  easier  than  to  write  several  words 
without  looking.  The  difficulty  begins  when 
it  comes  to  writing  several  lines  without 
having  them  run  into  each  other. 

85 


86  ON   BECOMING   BLIND 

A  well-known  plan  consists  of  first  fold- 
ing the  paper  in  plaits ;  that  is,  you  make 
a  first  fold  about  a  centimetre  from  the 
edge  of  the  paper ;  then  without  unfolding 
this  you  make  another  in  the  opposite  direc- 
tion about  a  centimetre  lower  down,  and  so 
on  until  finally  the  paper  is  plaited  into  a 
packet.  You  write  on  the  top  face  of  this 
packet,  which  you  unfold  as  you  write  on 
successive  folds. 

The  expedient  of  the  paper  folded  in 
plaits  is  not  convenient  when  one  has  much 
to  write ;  accordingly  a  great  number  of 
inventors  have  devised  scotographic  boards 
more  or  less  serviceable.  I  have  had  one 
made  which  has  given  me  full  satisfaction, 
and  which,  with  others,  has  served  me  in 
writing  the  present  volume.  It  was  de- 
scribed with  explanatory  diagrams  in  the 
magazine  La  Nature  for  May  18,  1901.  It 
can  be  had  in  France  of  Giroux,  19  Rue  de 
1'Odeon,  Paris.  Not  being  patented,  it  is  also 
made  abroad.  This  board,  though  a  little 
cumbersome,  does  away  with  the  need  of  a 
table ;  to  use  it  one  should  sit  by  preference 


HANDWRITING  87 

in  a  low  chair  and  hold  it  on  the  right 
knee. 

It  was  in  the  following  words  that  I  pre- 
sented my  tablet  to  the  Academy  of  Medi- 
cine, April  23,  1901 :  — 

"  Last  year,  having  lost  my  sight,  I  wished 
to  procure  a  means  which  would  allow  me 
to  continue  to  write  as  in  the  past.  Among 
the  many  systems  coming  to  my  notice,  of 
which  I  tried  several,  none  gave  me  satis- 
faction, for  they  did  not  leave  my  arm  and 
fingers  entire  freedom  in  their  movements. 
The  guide,  whatever  it  might  be,  was  a  con- 
stant obstacle  which  hindered  or  cramped  the 
writing,  and  a  cause  of  preoccupation  tram- 
melling to  the  freedom  of  mind  of  the  writer. 

"  I  then  had  made  this  scotographic  tablet 
which  I  demonstrate  to  you,  and  which  is 
constructed  on  the  physiologic  principles  of 
writing  which  I  have  elsewhere  set  forth.1 

1  "  Le  me'chanisme  de  1'ecriture,"  Revue  scientifique, 
May  21,  1881,  Vol.  XXVII,  p.  647.  « Sur  1'ecriture," 
Societe  de  biologie,  November  24,  1883  (distinction  be- 
tween the  isochronic  movements  of  the  thumb  and  the 
fingers).  "  Essai  sur  la  physiologic  de  1'ecriture."  pp.  32. 
Alcide  Picard  et  Kaan. 


ON   BECOMING   BLIND 


The  characteristic  part  of  this  little  appa- 
ratus is  a  sort  of  rim  where  the  writer's 
elbow  rests.  Pivoting  in  a  horizontal  plane, 

the  forearm  de- 
scribes the  arc  of  a 
circle  of  large  radius 
with  the  point  of 
the  pen,  and  this  arc 
gives  the  general 
form  to  the  line  of 
writing.  If  the 
paper  is  of  moderate 
width,  the  lines  thus 
made  have  a  very 
slight  curvature  and 
are  much  less  un- 
sightly than  a  simi- 
lar curve  seen  in  a 
good  many  writings. 
"  A  second  fea- 
ture of  my  instru- 
ment is  a  ratchet 
which  serves  to  move  the  paper  up  a  centi- 
metre each  time  the  writer  passes  from  one 
line  to  the  next. 


HANDWRITING  89 

"  And  lastly,  you  see  that  I  use  one  of 
the  handy  fountain  pens  which  come  from 
America.  It  seems  to  me  better  to  write 
with  ink  than  with  a  pencil,  for  it  is  very 
hard  for  the  blind  to  keep  tab  on  the  point 
of  his  pencil  so  as  to  turn  it  and  not  allow 
the  lead  to  get  flat,  which  broadens  the  lines 
without  his  knowledge  and  may  render  them 
undecipherable. 

"But  it  may  happen  that  the  pen  does 
not  mark  at  the  start,  and  I  have  had  the 
heartbreaking  experience  of  finding  after  I 
thought  I  had  written  a  page  that  I  held 
only  a  blank  sheet. 

"  To  avoid  this  mischance,  I  use  a  narrow 
strip  of  unsized  paper,  similar  to  copying 
paper.  To  tell  if  my  pen  marks,  I  only  have 
to  draw  a  line  across  the  paper.  If  the 
ink  runs,  it  moistens  the  paper,  which  lessens 
its  resistance  to  tearing.  I  try  the  experi- 
ment before  you  without  fear  of  failure ;  you 
see  that  the  paper  tears  under  very  slight 
effort  and  I  decide  that  the  pen  worked. 

"  If  you  wish  to  have  a  sample  of  the 
usefulness  of  my  tablet,  you  have  only  to 


90  ON   BECOMING   BLIND 

cast  a  glance  at  the  manuscript  of  the  present 
communication.  In  my  fear  of  not  being 
legible  I  have  written  a  little  slower  than 
usual,  and  if  I  may  believe  my  friends,  the 
result  is  really  acceptable." 


When  I  have  to  write  a  letter  away  from 
home,  I  go  to  work  by  a  system  analogous  to 
that  realized  in  my  planchette.  I  put  my 
right  elbow  on  the  table,  close  to  the  edge, 
and  with  the  well-settled  intent  of  not  mov- 
ing it  while  I  am  writing.  Next  I  put  the 
paper  down  so  that  its  left  border  coincides 
with  the  left  edge  of  the  table.  Whenever 
I  have  finished  a  line,  I  slip  the  paper  along 
the  edge  of  the  table  so  as  to  carry  it  away 
from  the  fixed  point  held  by  my  elbow. 
With  a  little  skill  the  left  hand  comes  to 
move  the  paper  each  time  by  almost  the 
same  amount.  To  do  this,  you  can,  for 


HANDWRITING  91 

instance,  hold  the  paper  by  the  first  four 
fingers,  the  little  finger  holding  the  angle  at 
the  head  of  the  sheet  and  the  edge  of  the 
table.  After  each  line  the  trick  consists  in 
moving  the  little  finger  about  a  centimetre, 
and  then,  by  the  help  of  the  four  others, 
sliding  the  paper  along  until  it  comes  in 
touch  with  the  little  finger.  It  is  needless 
to  say  that  by  this  method  the  lines  are  much 
less  evenly  spaced  than  with  the  planchette 
and  that  the  manoeuvre  takes  more  skill. 

If  you  wish  to  write  with  pencil  you  should 
use  preferably  the  Koh-i-Noor  pencil,  which 
marks  very  black  while  being  very  hard. 
It  is  stamped  "British  Graphite  Drawing 
Pencil,  Compressed  Lead."  Made  by  L.  and 
C.  Hardtmuth  in  Austria. 


XV 

TYPEWRITING  AND   PHONOGRAPHY 

FOR  the  blind  who  before  losing  their 
sight  had  poor  penmanship,  one  cannot 
recommend  too  strongly  the  use  of  a  type- 
writer. This  advice  is  all  the  more  to  be 
followed  the  younger  the  person,  for  then 
the  length  of  apprenticeship  in  learning 
typewriting  is  much  shorter,  and  the  proba- 
bility of  profiting  from  it  for  many  years  is 
greater. 

Instead  of  putting  the  Braille  letters  on 
the  keys,  it  is  better  to  learn  the  keyboard 
by  heart;  and  the  blind  scholar  can  help 
himself  in  this  by  means  of  a  paper  on 
which  he  has  copied  in  Braille  the  letters  in 
the  order  they  occur  on  the  keyboard. 

I  have  more  than  once  urged  patients 
threatened  with  blindness  to  familiarize 
themselves  with  the  use  of  a  typewriter. 
This  advice  was  much  more  acceptable  as 

92 


TYPEWRITING  AND   PHONOGRAPHY     93 

it  was  most  often  given  to  people  who,  not 
seeing  well  enough  to  make  out  their  own 
writing,  could  still  see  the  large  letters  on 
the  machine.  The  advice  does  not  seem  to 
me  good  to  be  given  to  old  people,  for  if  at 
any  age  one  can  learn  finger-writing,  this 
does  not  mean  that  one  can  come  to  do 
rapidly  an  act  so  automatic  and  unconscious 
as  writing.  Besides,  unless  this  automatism 
is  obtained,  typewriting  is  of  but  moderate 
use  to  the  blind ;  for  he  cannot,  like  one 
who  sees,  write  from  a  rough  copy.  He 
cannot  make  erasures,  and  so  is  obliged  to 
construct  each  sentence  in  full  before  be- 
ginning to  write. 

At  Montpellier  a  blind  employee  of  the 
Petit  Matin  receives  the  news  over  the 
telephone  and  writes  it  on  a  machine ;  his 
sheets  are  then  sent  to  the  type-setters. 

Machines  have  been  constructed  which 
print  at  the  same  time  pages  for  those  who 
see  and  for  the  blind  ;  as  yet  these  machines 
are  imperfect.  If  his  correspondent  makes 
use  of  one  of  these  machines,  the  blind  can 
read  without  witnesses  a  letter  addressed 


94  ON  BECOMING  BLIND 

to  him  by  one  who  writes  in  Braille  with- 
out himself  knowing  it. 

For  the  blind,  as  for  him  who  sees,  the 
most  rapid  way  of  setting  down  his  thoughts 
is  the  phonograph.  The  inconveniences  of 
this  machine  are:  first,  its  size, which  scarcely 
permits  its  use  outside  the  house ;  then  the 
short  time-duration  of  the  rolls  (in  the 
ordinary  model  the  cylinders  hardly  run 
three  minutes) ;  then  the  cost,  already  high 
for  an  ordinary  machine,  and  excessive  if 
one  wishes  a  special  model  or  one  with 
cylinders  which  will  run  for  half  an  hour. 

In  many  American  business  houses  the 
manager  dictates  his  correspondence  to  a 
phonograph  and  the  rolls  are  then  distrib- 
uted among  the  typewriters.  Nothing 
prevents  a  business  or  literary  man  who 
becomes  blind  from  thus  making  use  of  the 
phonograph. 

For  myself,  I  make  willing  use  of  the 
phonograph  to  dictate  to  it  the  plan  of  a 
piece  of  work,  which  I  then  have  it  repeat 
to  me  article  by  article  as  I  proceed  with 
the  compiling.  Lastly,  thanks  to  the  uni- 


TYPEWRITING   AND   PHONOGRAPHY     95 

fortuity  of  cylinders,  it  is  possible  to  corre- 
spond with,  a  friend  who  has  a  phonograph 
by  exchanging  cylinders  by  mail. 

It  appears  that  the  gramophone,  a  recent 
invention,  is  much  superior  to  the  phono- 
graph. 


XVI 
READING  AND   WRITING  BRAILLE 

IN  special  schools  writing  in  dots,  known 
under  the  name  of  Braille  writing,  is  the 
cornerstone  of  the  instruction.  Accordingly, 
when  an  adult  loses  his  sight,  the  first  advice 
that  the  instructors  of  the  blind  give  him  is 
to  busy  himself  with  learning  Braille,  advice 
useful,  no  doubt,  but  to  which  the  friends 
of  the  blind  attach  perhaps  an  exaggerated 
importance. 

Reading  Braille  is  a  resource  for  hours  of 
solitude.  In  case  of  insomnia  a  book  printed 
in  relief  is  an  incomparable  bedfellow.  I 
find  it  very  handy  to  mark  the  place  where 
I  stop  reading  by  fixing  on  the  edge  of  the 
page  one  of  the  very  small  spring  nippers 
which  you  get  at  the  stationer's.  It  is  a 
trick,  too,  of  the  blind  who  are  in  the  habit 
of  making  typographical  corrections,  to 
mark  the  line  they  wish  to  find  again  by  a 

96 


READING   AND   WRITING  BRAILLE       97 

raised  dot  made  opposite  it  in  the  margin  of 
the  page. 

If  there  is  among  the  family  of  the  blind 
one  who  wishes  to  learn  to  read  Braille,  he 
will  do  well  to  learn  it  on  the  back  side, 
that  is,  from  right  to  left,  the  reading  thus 
becoming  identical  with  the  writing. 

Reading  Braille,  so  precious  for  those  born 
blind,  is  only  a  pis  aller  because  of  its 
exceeding  slowness.  There  is  but  a  very 
limited  number  of  blind  who  can  read  aloud 
a  book  in  Braille  with  sufficient  speed  to 
make  the  listening  to  it  endurable. 

All  my  correspondents  who  know  it,  save 
those  who  lost  their  sight  very  young,  are 
unanimous  in  reducing  to  a  minimum,  be- 
cause of  their  slowness,  the  use  of  Braille  for 
writing  and  especially  for  reading.  To  quote 
but  one,  I  take  this  from  a  letter  of  M.  Rig- 
genbach :  — 

"  I  learned  to  read  and  write  Braille  im- 
mediately after  losing  my  sight,  but  I  have 
made  very  little  use  of  it.  Reading  and 
writing  in  dots  takes  too  much  time  and  is 
too  exhausting  to  be  a  frequent  employment 


98  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

when  there  is  the  possibility  of  being  read 
to  or  of  dictating.  Becoming  blind  at  the 
age  of  fifteen  years,  I  had  not  the  speed  and 
ease  in  writing  of  older  persons.  Accordingly 
I  went  twenty-six  years  without  writing. 
Quite  recently  I  bought  a  typewriter.  ..." 

The  slowness  of  reading  Braille  makes 
itself  felt  even  more  sadly  when  it  comes 
to  reading,  for  pleasure,  the  books  which 
you  wish  only  to  skim  or  turn  the  leaves. 

This  results  from  the  fact  that  the  finger 
can  never  touch  more  than  one  letter  at  a 
time,  while  the  eye  takes  in  on  the  average 
seven  letters  at  each  movement  it  makes  as 
it  passes  along  the  printed  line.  Reading 
by  finger,  then,  is  for  physiologic  reasons  at 
least  seven  times  slower  than  reading  by 
sight.1 

1  Persons  interested  in  questions  of  this  sort  may 
refer  to  my  articles  on  the  physiology  of  reading  which 
appeared  in  the  Annales  d'oculistique  in  1878  and  1879; 
to  my  articles  on  the  hygiene  of  reading,  in  the  Bulletin 
de  la  Societe  de  medecine  publique,  1878,  and  in  the 
Compte  rendus  de  la  Societe  de  biologic,  1878  and  1879;  to 
my  article  on  books  and  myopia,  Revue  scientifique,  No- 
vember 22, 1879,  and  Revue  d'hygiene,  1880 ;  to  my  article 
on  the  evolution  of  typography,  in  its  relation  to  the  hygi- 


READING  AND   WRITING  BRAILLE      99 

But  you  will  be  told  there  is  in  each  lan- 
guage an  abbreviated  spelling  for  Braille. 
To  speak  only  of  the  French,  the  gain  is  about 
one-third ;  but  let  us  well  understand :  the 
abbreviation  allows  an  economy  of  about 
one-third  of  the  paper  and  perhaps  a  quar- 
ter of  the  time  of  the  perfectly  trained 
writer ;  for  reading,  experience  demonstrates 
that  the  increase  of  speed  is  nil. 

About  1900  an  American,  Mr.  Hall,  made 
an  excellent  key  machine  for  writing  Braille. 
Three  keys  are  worked  by  three  fingers  of 
the  right  hand  and  three  others  by  three 
fingers  of  the  left  hand.  One  can  see  that 
by  aid  of  this  machine  the  speed  of  writing  is 
the  same  for  the  most  complex  characters  as 
for  those  made  by  a  single  dot.  The  objection 
to  this  machine  is  its  cost  (115  francs),  its 
weight  of  several  kilos,  and  the  noise  it 
makes. 

These  inconveniences   will   no   doubt  be 

ene  of  vision,  Revue  scientifique,  June  25, 1881,  and  Revue 
d'hygiene,  1881.  See  also  Lamarre,  "  The  Movements  of 
the  Eyes  during  Reading"  (work  done  in  my  laboratory), 
Compte  rendus  de  la  Socie'te'  fran9aise  d'ophtalmologie, 
1898,  p.  354. 


100  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

lessened  one  day.  I  do  not  think  that  the 
machine  will  ever  do  away  with  the  use  of 
the  pocket  tablet. 

With  the  American  Hall  machine,  or  its 
like,  you  can  write  at  least  three  times  as 
fast  as  with  the  stylet. 

To  make  arithmetical  calculations,  take 
either  the  reckoning  slate  of  Schleusser  of 
Nuremberg  or  a  cubarithme  of  the  National 
Institute,  the  use  of  which  is  handy  also  for 
the  first  study  of  Braille  writing.  One  may 
also,  in  default  of  a  cubarithme,  set  down 
the  numbers  in  dots  and  then  turn  over  the 
paper  so  as  to  be  able  to  touch  the  points 
and  set  down  the  results  in  reverse.  I  refer 
for  this  matter  to  the  volume  of  Barazer.1 

The  adult  who  becomes  blind  will  find 
great  advantage  in  using  Braille  to  take 
notes  of  brief  facts  gathered  in  conversation. 
I  cannot  picture  myself  deprived  of  my 
aluminum  pocket  tablet. 

Unfortunately,  the  model  of  the  tablet 
sold  at  the  Institute  is  made  for  more  adroit 

1  Le  commandant  Barazer,  "  Conseils  aux  personnes 
qui  perdent  la  vue."  In  8vo,  Dunod,  Paris,  1887. 


READING  AND   WRITING   BRAILLE     101 

fingers  than  mine.  I  have  found  it  so  very 
inconvenient  that  I  use  the  pocket  tablet 
almost  solely  to  note  proper  names  and 
figures.  Accordingly,  I  have  had  one  made 
for  me  which,  in  the  same  shape,  has  only 
six  lines  instead  of  nine,  and  sixteen  letters 
to  a  line  instead  of  twenty-three. 

Braille  serves  me,  too,  to  render  recogniz- 
able by  touch  papers  which  I  wish  to  pre- 
serve, as  well  as  the  strong  paper  envelopes 
in  which  I  classify  my  documents.  You 
can  get  at  the  Institution  special  paper  of 
varying  thickness  at  a  moderate  price.  It 
is  still  more  economical  to  use  chance  papers 
such  as  come  from  records  and  which  are  of 
excellent  quality.  The  use  of  paper  which 
has  been  written  on  is  not  noticed  by  the 
blind;  it  need  be  avoided  only  in  inter- 
course between  the  blind  and  those  who  can 
see.  For  what  is  not  intended  to  be  saved 
or  to  go  by  mail,  ordinary  paper  is  quite  stiff 
enough ;  with  books,  in  spite  of  the  use  of 
very  thick  paper,  it  may  happen  that  by  use 
or  a  careless  compression  the  points  lose 
their  relief. 


102  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

It  would  take  long  to  tell  the  means  of 
learning  Braille.  I  shall  not  go  into  it,  as  in 
such  a  matter  the  means  of  information  are 
abundant.  It  is  easy,  besides,  to  learn  Braille 
without  a  teacher,  thanks  to  the  exercise 
books  which  are  on  the  market.  I  recom- 
mend especially  that  of  Captain  Mouchard, 
to  be  had  at  the  Association  Valentin  Haiiy, 
as  well  as  a  book  of  which  I  am  the  author, 
and  which  I  compiled  to  facilitate  the  study 
of  abbreviated  French  orthography. 

When  one  wishes  to  learn  Braille,  he  must 
give  to  it  at  the  start  as  much  time  as  pos- 
sible. The  best  plan  is  for  the  first  few 
days  to  do  nothing  else,  up  to  the  point  of 
being  haunted  at  night.  Take  each  day 
many  lessons,  but  not  so  long  as  to  pass 
the  limit  of  sustained  attention  or  to  tire 
the  sensitiveness  of  the  finger-tips.  To  read, 
make  use  of  two  indices,  one  beside  the  other, 
moving  down  simultaneously.  Write  and 
read  alternately,  and  above  all  memorize 
the  Braille  table.  By  thus  doing,  in  spite 
of  a  mediocre  memory  and  one  weakened 
by  age,  I  think  that  every  one  can  learn  in 


READING  AND   WRITING  BRAILLE     103 

a  few  weeks  to  write  and  read  sufficiently 
to  get  real  advantage  from  it.  Persons  who 
find  it  too  hard  to  recognize  the  letters  of 
the  usual  size  can  make  use,  at  least  at 
first,  of  a  tablet  pierced  with  larger  squares, 
for  example,  the  so-called  Prague  model  sold 
at  the  National  Institution  at  Vienna.  One 
can  get  from  the  British  and  Foreign  Blind 
Association  of  London  tablets  making  letters 
of  very  large  size. 

To  sum  up :  the  younger  and  the  more 
isolated  he  is,  the  more  it  is  important  for 
the  blind  to  familiarize  himself  with  Braille, 
which,  thanks  to  the  considerable  number  of 
books  found  in  every  civilized  country  and 
notably  to  the  important  reading  library 
organized  for  France  by  the  Association 
Valentin  Haiiy,  furnishes  him  with  a  con- 
siderable means  of  instruction  and  of  dis- 
traction. Many  are  subscribers  to  the 
magazine  Le  Louis  Braille,  printed  for  their 
use. 

Unfortunately  the  larger  number  of  books, 
and  notably  Le  Louis  Braille,  are  printed  in 
abbreviation ;  and  unfortunately,  too,  there 


104  ON   BECOMING   BLIND 

exists  such  differences  between  the  short 
form  of  different  countries  that  very  few 
blind  persons  are  capable  of  reading  abbre- 
viation in  a  foreign  language.  Every  one 
is  agreed  that  it  is  well  not  to  learn  short 
form  before  being  perfectly  familiar  with 
ordinary  writing.  Each  one  may  then  see 
if  he  wishes  to  throw  himself  into  this 
complementary  study. 

Before  studying  the  speed  of  reading  and 
writing  by  the  blind,  it  is  interesting  to 
bring  together  some  approximate  indications 
as  to  the  speed  of  the  various  means  which 
man  employs  to  express  his  thought.  When 
I  say  nothing  to  the  contrary,  I  will  admit, 
with  the  typewriters,  that  single  words 
only  are  considered.  For  example  I'homme 
counts  as  a  single  word.  For  writing  of 
dactylography  I  admit  that  the  writer  must 
put  in  his  capitals,  accents,  and  punctuation ; 
the  same  for  Braille. 

It  would  not  be  hard  to  gather  statistics 
as  to  the  speed  of  mental  reading,  which 
is  the  habit  of  educated  men.  One  will  find 
considerable  individual  differences.  For 


BEADING   AND   WRITING   BRAILLE     105 

want  of  exact  information  I  will  admit  that 
one  reads  easily,  without  letting  anything 
slip,  five  hundred  words  a  minute. 

We  are  better  informed  on  the  rapidity 
of  speech.  From  what  has  been  told  me  at 
the  Stenographic  Institute  (150  Boulevard 
Saint-Germain,  Paris),  the  slowest  speaker 
utters  more  than  one  hundred  words  a  min- 
ute, while  the  most  rapid  rarely  says  more 
than  two  hundred.  A  fair  mean  appears 
to  be  one  hundred  and  sixty  words  a  minute. 

A  skilled  typewriter  writes  easily  for 
hours  forty  words  a  minute.  The  record, 
made  at  the  Exposition  of  1900,  is  sixty-six 
words.  One  may  say,  then,  that  the  speed 
of  typewriting  is  about  one-fourth  that  of 
reading  aloud.  I  estimate  the  speed  of  a  per- 
fectly legible  handwriting  at  twenty  words, 
or  about  half  that  obtained  generally  by 
typewriting.  A  very  rapid  writing,  omitting 
the  accents  and  the  dots  over  the  i's,  but  not 
the  punctuation,  readable  without  hesitation 
by  the  one  who  wrote  it,  may  reach  thirty- 
five  words.  You  have  seen  above  that  with 
my  planchette  I  can  write  twenty-five. 


106  ON   BECOMING   BLIND 

Skilled  telegraphers  send,  in  Morse, 
twenty-five  words  of  five  letters  a  minute, 
but  they  do  away  with  capitals  and  accents. 
This  is  then  a  speed  comparable  to  ordinary 
writing.  The  employee  at  the  receiver  of 
a  Morse  instrument  who  takes  the  message 
by  hearing  writes  it  easily  with  the  pen. 
All  are  agreed  in  saying  that  by  ear  they 
understand  telegrams  when  sent  at  much 
greater  speed.  The  rate  of  Morse  is  limited 
only  by  the  manual  speed  possible  to  the 
sender. 

In  1856,  a  little  while  after  the  invention 
of  Morse,  a  high  official  of  the  French 
telegraph,  M.  Charles  Bourseul,  had  the 
idea  that  this  alphabet  could  be  used  by 
the  blind  in  preference  to  Braille,  and  he 
constructed  an  apparatus  similar  to  the 
Morse  key,  acting  without  clockwork,  by 
the  aid  of  which  one  could  write  the  Morse 
alphabet  in  relief.  From  the  newer  prog- 
ress of  telegraphy  one  could  easily  devise 
a  similar  instrument,  where  the  signs  are 
replaced  by  two  lines  of  perforated  dots, 
which  would  allow  one  to  read  a  I' audition 


BEADING   AND  WRITING   BRAILLE     107 

the  strips  obtained  by  the  writing  instru- 
ment.1 

Coming  to  Braille ;  of  all  writing  it  is 
the  slowest,  especially  for  one  who  comes  to 
it  late.  I  write  four  words  a  minute.  The 
most  skilled  blind  person  scarcely  exceeds 
eight;  by  the  help  of  the  short  form  none 
succeeds  in  passing  ten  and  then  at  the  cost 
of  legibility,  for  in  hurrying  too  much  one 
makes  mistakes  and  writes  badly  with 
raised  dots,  especially  on  tablets  with  lines. 

The  slowness  of  Braille  is  still  more 
marked  when  it  comes  to  reading.  I  man- 
age to  read  twenty  words ;  many  born  blind 
read  sixty,  a  few  reach  one  hundred,  and 
now  and  then  one,  a  hundred  and  twenty. 
M.  de  Menieux,  librarian  of  the  Association 
Valentin  Haiiy,  has  read  in  my  presence 
almost  two  hundred  words  a  minute.  At 
the  moment  his  right  index  finger  reached 
the  end  of  one  line,  his  left  had  already 
passed  over  about  half  of  the  following  line ; 

1  Instituteur  des  aveugles,  Guadet's  journal,  Vol.  II, 
p.  140;  "An  Estimate  by  Ballu  of  the  instrument  of 
Bourseul, "  ibid.,  p.  162. 


108  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

so  that  almost  all  the  time  his  mental  read- 
ing by  the  left  hand  preceded  by  a  variable 
time  the  reading  of  the  right  hand,  which 
in  turn  probably  preceded  more  or  less  the 
vocal  reading.  M.  de  Menieux  agrees  with 
his  colleagues  in  saying  that  the  reading  of 
short  form  is  much  less  rapid  than  that  of 
Braille  in  full.  The  example  of  certain 
rapid  readers  ought  not  to  make  us  forget 
the  foregoing  figures,  according  to  which, 
even  for  those  born  blind,  the  reading  is  of 
such  slowness  that,  if  they  are  satisfied  with 
it,  it  is  because  they  have  not  tasted  the 
pleasure  of  reading  by  sight  which  they 
who  see  enjoy. 

What  I  have  just  said  applies  to  French. 
It  is  evident  that  in  German  one  would 
write  fewer  words  a  minute  without  perhaps 
being  less  skilful,  for  a  German  word  has 
as  many  letters  as  several  French  words. 

The  English  language  is  probably  the 
most  rapid.  When  one  says  "stop"  for 
"  ametez  "  or  "  bus  "  for  "  omnibus  "  or  "  go 
on "  for  "  continuez"  one  can  easily  prick 
out  many  words  a  minute.  Accordingly,  at 


READING  AND   WRITING   BRAILLE     109 

the  Chicago  Exposition  the  record  of  type- 
writing was  ninety-seven  words  a  minute. 
As  for  reading  English,  according  to  a  re- 
markable memoire  of  M.  Edmond  B.  Huey,1 
we  see  that  a  person  has  been  able  to  read 
mentally  more  than  eight  hundred  words  a 
minute  and  three  hundred  aloud. 

In  resume :  leaving  aside  the  more  espe- 
cially skilled  professionals,  those  born  blind 
write  three  times  less  quickly  and  read 
mentally  at  least  five  times  less  quickly 
than  they  who  see;  and  as  regards  read- 
ing, the  adult  who  loses  his  sight  is  far 
from  being  able  to  hope  for  such  success. 
For  him  the  inferiority  of  Braille  is  the 
more  wretched  that  he  has  been  accustomed 
to  read  rapidly;  and  above  all  to  skim 
along,  skipping  words,  sentences,  or  whole 
pages. 

Historical.  —  Persons  who  wish  details 
of  the  history  of  raised  writing  cannot 
do  better  than  to  begin  by  reading  the  two 
volumes  in  which  M.  Pagnerre  has  recently 
treated  this  subject.  The  manuscript  with 

1  American  Journal  of  Physiology,  Vols.  XI  and  XII. 


110  ON   BECOMING   BLIND 

which  M.  Pagnerre  has  enriched  the  Braille 
library  is  in  short  orthography  and  dated 
1902.  There  is  a  resume  of  it  in  the  ap- 
pendix of  the  volume  published  at  the  close 
of  the  International  Congress  for  the 
Amelioration  of  the  Lot  of  the  Blind,  held 
at  Brussels  in  1902. 

In  1820  Prony  presented  to  the  Academy 
of  Sciences  a  report  on  a  system  of  writing 
invented  by  Captain  Barbier.1  At  this 
time  Barbier  showed  the  superiority  for  the 
blind  of  a  writing  formed  by  raised  dots. 
He  produced  this  writing  by  means  of  a 
stylet  guided,  as  is  still  done  to-day,  by  the 
contour  of  a  rectangular  block.  Under  the 

1  "  Rapport  de  Cuvier  et  Molard  sur  un  Memoire  de 
Charles  Barbier,"  pamphlet  in  18vo,  pp.  24,  to  be  found  in 
the  Braille  Library,  31  Avenue  de  Breteuil,  under  No.  118. 
This  pamphlet  contains  the  reports  made  in  1820  by 
M.  de  Prony  and  in  1823  by  M.  Lacepede. 

Barbier,  "Notice  sur  les  salles  d'asile,  le  retour  a  la 
simplicite  primitive  de  la  theorie  alphabetique,  1'instruc- 
tion  familiere  des  enf ants  du  premier  age,  des  aveugles  de 
naissance  et  des  sourds-muets. "  8vo.  Bachelier,  printer, 
and  Hachette,  in  the  Elementary  Classical  Library,  Paris, 
1834.  This  work  is  also  found  in  the  Braille  Library, 
and  in  that  of  the  Institute,  in  a  volume,  "  Melanges  de 
statistique, "  No.  259. 


READING  AND   WRITING   BRAILLE     111 

paper  a  plate  carried  a  groove  the  use  of 
which  is  transmitted  even  to  our  time,  at 
least  in  France. 

Three  years  later  MM.  Ampere  and 
Lacepede  made  a  new  report  to  the  Insti- 
tute. Barbier  had  brought  two  blind  per- 
sons knowing  how  to  read  by  his  system. 
Surprised  by  the  excellence  of  the  result, 
the  commissioners  had  one  of  the  two  go 
out  of  the  room,  and  dictated  a  sentence  to 
the  other.  On  his  return  the  first  read  at 
once  without  hesitation  the  phrase  which 
his  companion  had  just  dotted.  Thus  the 
raised  writing  and  the  means  of  tracing  it 
regularly  are  the  work  of  Barbier,  who,  be- 
sides, had  arranged  the  grooved  plate  so  as 
to  be  at  once  displaced  to  allow  the  blind 
writer  to  make  his  own  corrections.  Braille 
has  besides  given  him  full  justice  in  closing 
the  preface  of  one  of  his  books  with  the 
following  sentence,1  "  Nous  aimerons  tou- 
jours  a  repeter  que  notre  reconnaissance 

1 "  Proc£d£  pour  ecrire  au  moyen  de  points,"  2d  edition, 
Irnprimerie  de  1'Institution  royal  des  jeunes  aveugles. 
Paris,  1837. 


112  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

appartient  a  M.  Barbier,  qui  le  premier  a 
invente*  un  precede  d'ecriture  au  moyen  de 
points,  a  1'usage  des  aveugles." 

In  the  course  of  the  twenty  or  twenty-five 
years  which  he  devoted  to  perfecting  raised 
writing,  Barbier  seems  to  have  modified  in 
several  ways  the  disposition  of  the  raised 
dots  before  determining  on  the  square  cell 
capable  of  receiving  six  dots.  In  a  pamphlet 
to  be  had  in  the  Braille  Library,  under 
No.  110  f.  of  the  catalogue,  there  is  a 
detailed  explanation  of  the  manufacture  of 
Barbier  tablets  put  at  the  disposition  of  the 
blind.1  I  will  confine  myself  to  showing 
one  of  his  dotted  notations,  from  a  picture 
and  volume  belonging  to  the  collection  of 
M.  Boissicat,  Treasurer  of  the  National 
Institute  of  Paris.  The  impression  is  per- 
fect, and  you  will  see  that  in  this  system  an 
unlettered  person  can  learn  to  read  in  a 
few  hours.  The  corner-stone  of  this  system 
is  the  following  printed  table,  which  must 

1  "  Annales  de  I'lndustrie  nationale  et  etrangere  ou 
Mercure  technologique."  Bachelier,  55  quai  des  Augus- 
tus, Paris,  1822. 


READING  AND   WRITING   BRAILLE     113 

be  learned  by  heart,  line  by  line.  This 
labor  of  memory,  the  only  one  demanded 
by  Barbier,  is  singularly  facilitated  by  the 
logical  and  deductive  arrangements  of  the 
letters  written  in  the  table,  and  which  re- 
call the  articulations  of  the  celebrated 
Couen  de  Prepean,  the  father  of  French 
stenography. 

TABLE  OF  CHARLES  BABBLER 


IST  LINE 

a 

i 

o 

u 

6 

d 

2o    LINE 

an 

in 

on 

un 

eu 

ou 

SD    LINE 

b 

d 

g 

j 

v 

z 

4TH  LINE 

P 

t 

q 

ch 

f 

s 

STH  LINE 

1 

m 

n 

r 

gn 

11  (soft) 

GTH  LINE 

oi 

oin 

ian 

ien 

ion 

ieu 

For  the  blind  each  sign  is  composed  of 
two  lines  of  dots  parallel  and  vertical.  The 
number  of  dots  in  the  left-hand  row  gives 
the  number  of  one  of  the  six  horizontal 
lines  of  the  table,  and  the  number  of  dots 
in  the  right  hand  line  tells  the  rank  in  the 
horizontal  line  of  the  letter  type. 

Here  is  the  very  sample  given  by  Bar- 
bier  :  — 


114  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 


If  he  has  taken  pains  the  reader  will  be 
able  to  reconstruct  the  eight  words  of  Bar- 
bier  :  — 

Le  choz  util  n  sore  etr  tro  sinpl  (Les 
choses  utiles  ne  sauraient  etre  trop  simples). 

This  arrangement  is  manifestly  not  propi- 
tious to  rapid  reading,  and  if  I  am  rightly 
informed  Barbier  first  made  trial  of  our  cell 
receiving  only  six  dots. 

It  is  to  Louis  Braille,  pupil  and  later  pro- 
fessor in  the  Institution  in  Paris,  that  we 
rightly  attribute  the  choice  of  the  combi- 
nations of  six  dots  which  constitutes  our 
alphabet. 

To  my  mind  this  choice  has  not  been  as 
fortunate  as  it  might  have  been.  Braille 
had  received  only  the  quite  rudimentary 
instruction  which  the  state  then  gave  to 
its  blind.  It  required  him  to  put  to  the 


READING   AND   WRITING  BRAILLE     115 

service  of  an  extraordinarily  ingenious  mind 
a  rare  patience  to  produce  his  systems  of 
writing  and  musical  notation.  But  obliged 
to  draw  everything  from  his  own  brain, 
the  idea  could  not  come  to  him  of  taking 
into  account  the  necessities  of  other  lan- 
guages than  French,  or  of  the  way  he  ought 
to  leave  open  for  abbreviated  forms.  These 
different  abbreviative  processes,  says  M. 
Moldenhauer,  were  conceived  in  different 
countries  without  having  regard  to  other 
languages.1 

It  is,  then,  to  the  adoption  of  orthographic 
writing  by  Braille  that  is  due  the  heart- 
rending state  of  international  relations  be- 
tween the  blind;  for  the  slowness  of  the 
Braille  alphabet  has  been  the  Tower  of 
Babel  which  has  given  rise  to  the  confusion 
of  national  short  forms,  and  I  do  not  know 
a  single  blind  person  who  can  read  two 
languages  in  short  form. 

The  following  is  the  table  in  dots  of 
Braille.  You  will  notice  that  the  second, 
third,  and  fourth  lines  are  derived  from  the 

1  Compte  rendu  du  Congres  de  Bruxelles,  p.  162. 


116 


ON   BECOMING  BLIND 


first,  which  we  will  call  the  type  line,  by 
the  addition  of  one  or  two  dots. 

TABLE  OF  BKAILLE  IN  DOTS 


Here  now  are  the  signs  of  printing  or 
ordinary  writing  arranged  in  the  same  order 
as  represented  in  the  preceding  table  of 
dots :  — 


IST  LINE  a  b 

2o    LINE  k  1 

SD    LINE  u  v 

4TH  LINE  §,  § 
STH  LINE 


TABLE  OF  BRAILLE  IN  TYPE 

c  d  e  f  g  h 

m  n  o  p  q  r 

x  y  z  q  e  a 

i  6  u  e  i  ti 


1  ] 

s  t 

e  u 

O3  W 


0 


READING  AND   WRITING   BRAILLE    117 

By  taking  ten  signs  for  his  first  line  or 
type  line,  Braille  had  the  advantage  of  being 
able  to  use  this  line  as  a  whole  for  the  ten 
ciphers. 

The  study  of  this  writing  is  facilitated  by 
the  fact  that  it  is  sufficient  for  the  pupil  to 
learn  by  heart,  on  the  one  hand,  the  form  of 
the  ten  first  signs  in  dots,  and  on  the  other, 
the  order  of  the  fifty  signs  in  the  printed 
table.  For  those  who,  like  myself,  learn 
Braille  at  an  advanced  age,  this  facility  is 
appreciable,  but  for  the  ensemble  of  blind 
persons  it  is  dearly  paid  for  by  its  in- 
convenience. 

There  is  produced,  in  effect,  in  reading 
Braille,  something  analogous  to  what  I  have 
elsewhere  pointed  out  in  reading  ordinary 
print.  Cover  the  lower  half  of  a  printed 
line ;  you  will  continue  to  read  it  without 
trouble,  while  you  will  be  unable  to  make 
it  out  if  you  cover  the  upper  half  of  the 
letters.  Thus  the  glance  of  the  trained 
reader  passes  along  the  heads  of  the  letters, 
much  more  characteristic  and  varied  than 
the  bottoms.  In  the  same  way,  when  I 


118  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

read  raised  writing,  my  finger  grasps  less 
the  bases  of  the  letters,  and  I  chance  to  read 
a  c  instead  of  an  m  or  an  x.  It  is  because 
the  most  sensitive  area  of  the  finger  is  less 
than  the  height  of  the  common  raised 
writing.  I  do  not  think  I  am  alone  in 
this.  I  believe,  in  fact,  that  the  frequency 
of  this  inconvenience  has  had  something  to 
do  with  the  creation  of  the  New  York  point, 
in  which  the  raised  letters  have  only  two 
dots  in  height,  balanced  often  by  having 
three  in  breadth. 

Take  note  that  the  table  of  Braille  com- 
prises only  fifty  of  the  sixty-three  signs 
which  the  rectangular  cell  may  give. 

The  orthographic  writing  of  Braille  gained 
ground,  thanks  to  the  influence  of  Drs. 
Guill^  and  Pignier,  Directors  in  the  Insti- 
tute, and  that  of  Guadet,  professor  in  the 
Institute,  who  by  his  journal,  L? Instituteur 
des  aveugles,  served  as  a  link  between  the 
school  at  Paris  and  the  foreign  schools. 

It  seems  to  me  that  these  men  were  not 
on  the  right  road  when  they  abandoned  the 
phonography  of  Barbier. 


READING  AND   WRITING  BRAILLE     119 

In  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
without  having  any  knowledge  of  the  work 
of  Barbier  and  Braille,  an  Austrian  of  the 
greatest  merit,  Klein,  composed  an  alphabet 
formed  by  points  legible  by  those  who  see 
as  well  as  by  the  blind.  The  letters  of 
Klein  were  five  dots  in  height,  which 
involved  too  great  slowness  in  reading  and 
especially  in  writing. 

The  "  trait  point "  of  Dr.  Yezien  and  the 
beautiful  alphabet  of  Dr.  Mascaro  constitute 
raised  writing  easy  at  once  for  the  blind  to 
trace  and  for  those  who  see  to  read. 

Everywhere  else  than  in  France  they 
have  replaced  the  grooves  of  Barbier  by 
little  cup-shaped  indentations,  which  force 
the  writer  to  hold  his  stylet  quite  perpen- 
dicular to  the  tablet,  and  as  a  result  to  form 
his  dots  correctly.  Barbier  had  devised  the 
grooves  for  reasons  of  economy  in  manu- 
facture, which  do  not  hold  to-day;  and 
I  recommend  the  beginner  to  avoid  the 
tablets  made  in  France,  to  be  sure  of  getting 
the  habit,  which  is  so  important,  of  holding 
the  stylet  quite  perpendicular  to  the  paper. 


XVII 

CORRESPONDENCE   WITH   PERSONS   WHO 
SEE 

Two  questions  present  themselves:  to 
write  without  witness,  and  to  obtain  knowl- 
edge of  the  contents  of  a  letter,  while 
choosing  the  person  by  whom  you  have  it 
read. 

For  the  first  question,  you  have  seen  how 
I  got  round  the  difficulty  by  means  of  my 
writing  planchette.  Again,  one  may  have 
recourse  to  typewriting,  or  even,  with  regu- 
lar correspondents,  to  Braille  writing,  on 
condition  of  having  provided  them  with  a 
model  of  the  point  alphabet.  Those  born 
blind  can  put  on  the  address  by  using  a 
special  system  serving  to  trace  the  usual 
characters  in  relief.  For  stamps,  it  is  well 
to  keep  them  sorted  in  a  box  with  compart- 
ments, which  you  make  recognizable  by 
120 


CORRESPONDENCE  121 

marks.  The  letter  once  written,  it  is  useful 
to  carry  it  yourself  to  the  mail  without  show- 
ing the  address  to  any  one,  either  by  taking 
a  guide,  or,  what  is  better,  by  learning  to  go 
alone  to  the  nearest  letter  box. 

Receiving  letters  offers  more  difficulties. 
It  took  me  two  years,  for  instance,  to  learn 
that  the  blind  ought  always  to  open  his 
letters  himself.  Before  opening  them  he 
can  be  told  if  there  are  any  external  marks, 
showing  whence  the  letter  came,  such  as 
business  heading  or  postal  mark.  The  very 
feel  of  a  letter  often  gives  some  information 
of  its  nature.  A  begging  letter  on  thin,  poor 
paper  is  not  easily  confused  with  a  note  from 
a  lady  in  a  glossed  envelope,  which  is  often 
recognizable  by  a  crest  in  relief  or  by  its 
perfume.  Again,  external  signs  may  be 
agreed  upon  with  a  regular  correspondent. 

The  letter  once  opened,  the  touch  may 
give  definite  information  as  to  its  nature ;  a 
printed  prospectus  does  not  give  the  same 
feel  under  the  fingers  as  does  a  calling  card, 
and  one  will  not  confound  a  check  with  a 
letter  of  request. 


122  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

If  the  blind  man  has  any  doubt,  which  is 
generally  the  case,  he  puts  the  letter  back 
into  the  envelope,  reserving  to  himself  the 
choice  of  who  shall  read  it  to  him.  Once 
the  letter  is  read,  I  do  not  fail  to  mark  on  it 
with  points  a  sufficient  indication  to  recog- 
nize it  later,  and  know  by  whom  to  have  it 
reread  when  the  time  for  replying  comes. 

I  know  one  blind  person  who  has  his  let- 
ters sent  to  him  at  the  general  delivery, 
then  after  getting  the  letter,  he  is  driven  in 
a  cab  to  a  remote  quarter  of  town,  where 
he  has  it  read  to  him  by  a  boy,  who,  not 
knowing  him,  can  hardly  commit  the  indis- 
cretion of  acquainting  the  blind  man's  house- 
hold with  what  he  would  keep  to  himself. 

Another  way:  you  know  that  Braille 
correspondence  may  go  in  the  mail  under 
wrappers  at  printed  rates ;  if  the  family  of 
the  blind  man  knows  this  writing,  nothing 
is  easier  than  to  forego  the  lower  rate  and 
have  his  Braille  letter  sent  to  him  under 
sealed  postage. 

Finally,  if  the  blind  and  his  correspondent 
both  know  a  common  foreign  language,  the 


CORRESPONDENCE  123 

correspondent  may  write  him  in  this  tongue, 
taking  care  to  make  the  letters  of  perfect 
legibility.  Thus  I  have  myself  written  in 
German,  recommending  that  Latin  letters 
be  employed.  If,  as  an  extra  precaution, 
which  is  far  from  being  indispensable, 
my  correspondent  takes  the  trouble  to  re- 
place the  u  by  ou,  the  ie  by  i,  any  French- 
man can  read  me  my  letter  in  a  perfectly 
comprehensible  manner;  all  that  is  neces- 
sary for  me  is  that  he  does  not  know 
German. 


XVIII 

MAPS,  PLANS,  AND  SKETCHES 

To  execute  a  large  sketch  formed  only 
with  points,  one  may  use  the  writing  tablet, 
or,  better,  special  tablets  with  square  equi- 
distant openings. 

In  schools  for  the  blind  they  use,  to  teach 
geography,  maps  stamped  in  relief  on  paper, 
or,  better,  on  celluloid,  on  which  the  blind 
can  very  well  find  their  bearings,  thanks  to 
the  variety  of  more  or  less  strongly  marked 
lines,  variously  pointed,  which  show  the 
boundaries,  the  rivers,  etc.  They  have  also 
made  maps  by  embroidery  on  canvas,  or 
on  perforated  card-board)  made  for  Frobel 
schools,  to  be  had  in  the  stores. 

Stamped  maps  covered  with  details  are 
hard  to  read,  for  one  who  has  not  been 
accustomed  to  them  from  childhood,  and 
besides,  one  can  rarely  find  ready-made 
maps  filling  a  special  or  sudden  need.  Few 

124 


MAPS,   PLANS,   AND   SKETCHES        125 

blind  are  subscribers  to  a  German  revue, 
published  in  shorthand,  which  gave,  in  con- 
nection with  its  articles  on  the  Spanish- 
American  and  China-Japan  wars,  relief  maps 
with  the  fields  of  battle,  the  ports,  and  cities 
designated.  One  has  even  less  hope  of  be- 
ing able  to  get,  ready-made,  a  plan  of  the 
city,  the  ward,  or  of  the  house  wherein  he 
lives. 

To  meet  this  need  the  firm  of  Carriere, 
22  Rue  Saint-Sulpice,  Paris,  has  made  at  my 
request,  with  entire  success,  sheets  of  wax  a 
little  over  a  millimetre  thick  and  measuring 
twenty  by  thirty  centimetres.  These  sheets 
being  transparent,  nothing  is  easier  than  to 
make  a  relief  map  by  placing  them  over  the 
plan  or  map  which  interests  the  blind  one. 
It  is  enough  to  apply  over  the  lines  which 
you  wish  to  reproduce  flexible  wires,  which 
the  pressure  of  the  finger  embeds  in  the  wax. 

The  wires  which  serve  the  best  for  this 
purpose  are  of  lead.  Their  cost  is  next  to 
nothing  and  their  flexibility  perfect,  while 
the  softness  is  such  that  they  can  be  broken 
between  the  fingers  in  any  desired  length. 


126  ON   BECOMING   BLIND 

To  diversify  the  lines,  wires  of  three  thick- 
nesses may  be  used,  varying  from  one  to 
two  millimetres.  With  the  wires  of  about 
one  millimetre  you  can  make  letters  which, 
set  in  the  wax,  can  be  easily  read  by  touch. 

To  increase  the  variety  of  lines,  you  may 
use  guitar  strings,  the  sixth  and  seventh, 
which  are  both  pliable  and  tough,  the  core 
being  of  silk  and  the  winding  of  fine 
metallic  wire.  You  can  also  use  string  or 
bits  of  wooden  or  wax  matches.  There  is 
nothing  to  prevent  marking  various  points 
by  lead  bird  shot,  glass  beads,  or,  even 
better,  tacks. 

The  wax  being  very  flexible,  if  you  wish 
to  keep  the  maps  thus  made,  it  is  necessary 
to  fasten  them  by  tacks  to  thin,  light  boards 
of  wood.  You  can  use  the  same  sheet  of 
wax  many  times  by  taking  out  the  em- 
bedded wires  and  smoothing  out  the  sur- 
face with  the  thumb  nail. 

The  wax  sheets  serve  me  also  to  make 
sketches  myself,  which  is  done  without  diffi- 
culty. I  use  a  rule  divided  into  centimetres 
by  little  notches,  a  square,  and  a  compass. 


MAPS,  PLANS,  AND   SKETCHES         127 

M.  Carl  Schleussner,  inspector  at  the  Insti- 
tute for  the  Blind  at  Nuremberg,  showed  in 
1902,  at  Brussels,  cotton  thread  covered  with 
wax  which  he  used  to  teach  geometry.  He 
was  kind  enough  to  send  me  a  sample,  which 
appeared  to  me  perfect  for  making  at  once 
sensible  the  outlines  of  a  map;  but  after 
some  months  the  threads  were  dried  out, 
and  had  unfortunately  lost  the  property  of 
adhering  to  the  paper. 


XIX 

MUSIC 

HAPPY  the  blind  who  have  a  taste  for 
music,  the  only  art  within  their  reach. 
They  find  greater  pleasure  in  it  than  the 
majority  of  those  who  have  their  sight. 
Accordingly,  I  shall  not  dwell  on  so  evi- 
dent a  truth.  Happier  still  are  they  who, 
before  losing  their  sight,  knew  how  to  play 
some  instrument  and  have  a  memory  fur- 
nished with  a  number  of  masterpieces. 

Persons  who  read  rapidly  before  losing 
their  sight  are  to  be  pitied,  for  music 
written  in  Braille  can  be  read  only  very 
slowly,  and  naturally  this  reading  leaves 
only  one  hand  free.  It  takes  the  patience 
of  one  born  blind  to  learn  a  piano  piece,  bar 
by  bar,  playing  successively  with  the  right 
hand  and  the  left,  while  the  finger  of  the 
other  hand  is  passed  along  the  signs  repre- 
senting the  notes.  I  doubt  if  an  adult  musi- 

128 


MUSIC  129 

cian  becoming  blind  would  ever  have  the 
patience  to  submit  to  such  labor.  Braille 
music  writing,  derived  from  the  notation 
invented  by  J.  J.  Rousseau  and  which  is 
in  actual  use  at  the  Galin-Paris-Cheve 
school,  is  very  remarkable.  It  is  more 
rational  than  the  usual  music  notation, 
takes  no  more  space,  and  its  cost  is  not 
excessive. 

If  he  is  sufficiently  gifted,  an  old  musi- 
cian become  blind  can  find  the  greatest 
pleasure  in  improvising.  He  can,  with  the 
help  of  some  one  who  sees,  or  perhaps  even 
with  the  aid  of  a  phonograph,  learn  some 
pieces  by  heart;  but  if  he  learns  Braille 
music,  I  doubt  very  much  if  he  will  get 
any  profit  from  it,  save  in  the  most  excep- 
tional cases.  I  fear  that  he  will  have  to 
resign  himself  to  leaving  to  those  born 
blind  the  labor  of  profiting  from  this 
admirable  invention. 


XX 

GAMES 

THERE  is  nothing  to  hinder  a  blind  person 
from  playing  dominoes,  chess,  checkers,  or 
cards,  if  he  is  gifted  with  a  fair  memory. 
If  his  memory  is  excellent,  there  is  no  trouble 
at  all,  since  the  great  chess-players  play  with- 
out seeing  the  board,  their  adversary  alone 
being  with  the  board  and  making  alternately 
his  moves  and  those  of  the  great  player. 
Being  endowed  with  a  wretched  memory,  I 
cannot  even  play  at  dominoes,  being  unable 
to  remember  either  what  has  been  played  or 
what  dominoes  I  have  in  my  hand.  I  have 
not  even  tried  to  play  checkers  or  chess,  for 
I  am  utterly  unable  to  picture  to  myself  the 
position  of  the  pieces. 

For  the  majority  of  blind  players  the  game 
of  checkers  or  chess  is  made  very  easy  by 
means  of  boards  on  which  each  square  has  a 
little  hole  to  receive  the  peg  with  which  the 

130 


GAMES  131 

checkers  or  chessmen  are  provided.  These 
sets  with  holes  and  pegs  are  to  be  bought, 
for  they  were  invented  for  playing  on  rail- 
way trains.  It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  slight 
change  necessary  to  make  the  black  pieces 
recognizable  from  the  white.  For  those  who 
do  not  like  the  pegs  there  are  special  checker- 
boards made  with  the  squares  of  one  color 
set  deeper  than  the  others.  At  the  muni- 
cipal school  for  the  blind  in  Berlin,  besides 
chess  and  checkers,  there  are  loto,  halma, 
etc. 

Since  the  blind  person  who  plays  draughts 
or  chess  is  constantly  passing  his  hands  over 
the  game,  it  is  better  for  his  opponent  to  have 
a  separate  board. 

There  are  playing  cards  recognizable  by 
almost  invisible  needle  pricks  which  give 
the  blind  the  ability  to  play  with  those  who 
see.  One  can  get  at  the  National  Institute 
a  little  instrument  for  marking  playing 
cards. 

A  blind  person  can  amuse  himself  with- 
out any  modification  with  the  games  of 
solitaire,  ring  puzzles,  and  billard  anglais. 


XXI 

TOBACCO 

ONE  might  think  that  the  blind,  not  be- 
ing able  to  see  the  smoke,  would  experience 
no  taste  for  tobacco  ;  it  is  an  error.  I  can 
attest  to  numbers  of  persons  born  blind  who 
smoke  cigarettes,  and  of  inveterate  smokers 
become  blind  for  whom  a  pipe  or  cigar  is  an 
almost  necessary  complement  of  a  dinner. 
A  blind  man,  perhaps  more  readily  than  one 
who. sees,  may  let  his  cigar  go  out  without 
at  once  perceiving  it.  I  have  no  experience 
with  cigarettes  or  pipe.  If  I  suspect  that 
my  cigar  has  gone  out,  I  close  my  hand 
around  it  without  touching  it,  and  if  the 
cigar  still  burns,  the  radiating  warmth  is 
readily  felt. 

For  lighting  I  use  coals,  which  are  much 
more  convenient  than  matches,  for  with 
these  it  is  not  easy  to  bring  the  end  of  the 
cigar  in  touch  with  the  flame. 

132 


TOBACCO  133 

In  my  room  I  have  ash  trays  placed  here 
and  there,  in  which,  when  I  think  of  it,  I 
put  the  ash  to  avoid  letting  it  fall  on  the 
floor.  At  times,  when  moving  about,  I  make 
use  of  one  of  the  sputum  flasks  which  are 
made  for  consumptives.  With  this  in  my 
pocket  I  can,  wherever  I  may  be,  without 
incommoding  any  one,  get  rid  of  my  ashes 
or  the  butt  of  my  cigar,  which,  shut  in  the 
flask,  goes  out  without  spreading  a  bad  odor. 

In  short,  it  seems  to  me  that  the  chief 
practical  advice  to  give  to  the  blind  who 
wish  to  smoke,  is  to  select  very  dry  cigars, 
which  alone  can  be  smoked  slowly  without 
fear  of  their  going  out.  Often  a  cigar 
serves  me  to  measure  time  when,  in  the 
presence  of  a  stranger,  I  do  not  wish  to 
feel  the  time  on  my  watch. 


XXII 

MEMORY  AND   MNEMONICS 

I  RECALL  having  met,  in  my  youth,  wholly 
illiterate  peasants  whose  memory  seemed  to 
me  prodigious.  They  remembered  year  by 
year  the  character  of  the  seasons.  They 
knew  the  exact  dates  of  small  events  in 
their  life,  and  had  stereotyped  the  exact  re- 
membrance of  then:  receipts  and  expendi- 
tures. The  inability  of  preserving  anything 
by  writing,  and  the  long  hours  of  monoto- 
nous manual  labor,  when  their  mind  dwelt 
leisurely  on  the  past,  recalled  it  to  their 
memory  and  engraved  it  on  their  brain. 
Herein,  if  I  mistake  not,  are  the  special 
conditions  which  lead  to  these  phenomenal 
memories,  which  so  astonish  the  neighbors 
who  are  more  favored  as  regards  primary 
education. 

The  difficulty  o,f  taking  notes  and,  above 
all,  of  consulting  them,  the  long  hours  of 

134 


MEMORY  AND   MNEMONICS  135 

isolation,  and  absence  of  the  distractions 
which  the  visible  world  brings,  are  analogous 
conditions,  thanks  to  which  a  certain  number 
of  blind-born  people  become  remarkable  for 
their  memory. 

With  the  blind,  memory  is  necessary  for 
many  acts  of  daily  life.  He  needs  more  or 
less  conscious  memory  to  put  his  hand  with- 
out hesitation  on  the  door-knob,  to  give 
directions  to  the  guide  who  takes  him  across 
the  streets  of  the  city,  to  know  at  a  dinner 
the  positions  of  the  guests  around  the  table. 
Many  blind  people  make  a  very  systematic 
use  of  their  memory,  and  know,  for  instance, 
the  number  of  steps  in  each  portion  of  an 
accustomed  walk,  the  number  of  treads  in  a 
stairway,  etc. 

To  write,  as  I  do  at  this  moment,  being 
unable  to  make  erasures,  it  is  necessary  to 
construct  each  sentence  practically  complete 
before  beginning  to  write.  You  must  know 
what  you  have  put  in  the  preceding  pages 
in  order  to  make  a  subsequent  summary 
without  need  to  have  read  to  you  what  has 
been  written. 


136  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

In  place  of  referring  to  documents  which 
he  wishes  to  use,  the  blind  writer  is  obliged 
to  make  himself  absolute  master  of  them  in 
advance;  and  if  his  memory  is  poor,  the 
task  becomes  much  more  difficult  and  the 
work  loses  in  precision  and  vivacity.  This 
very  book  necessarily  shows  these  diffi- 
culties. 

The  feebleness  of  my  memory  obliged  me 
to  give  special  attention  to  the  ways  by 
which  those  who  become  blind  late  in  life 
can  clear  themselves  of  these  difficulties  in 
personal  work  and  not  forget  the  engage- 
ments at  fixed  times  in  their  daily  life. 

Here  the  pointed  writing  is  an  inestimable 
help.  The  pocket  tablet  permits  one  to  put 
a  short  note  on  the  letters  he  receives,  as 
well  as  on  the  larger  envelopes  where  he 
keeps  papers  relating  to  the  same  subject, 
and  on  the  edge  of  the  largest  cases  in 
which  he  classifies  the  envelopes.  It  be- 
comes easy  by  this  means,  or  by  some  simi- 
lar device,  for  him  to  find,  himself,  all  the 
papers  he  has  collected  and  to  have  read  by 
some  one  those  to  which  he  wishes  to  refer. 


MEMORY  AND   MNEMONICS  137 

In  a  word,  by  perfect  order  and  thanks  to 
the  help  of  raised  writing,  one  can  discount 
the  weaknesses  of  the  poorest  memory. 

For  one  who  loses  his  sight  late,  the 
attempt  to  better  his  memory  is  rather 
chimerical  and  illusory,  since  with  almost 
every  one  the  memory,  particularly  for  recent 
events,  grows  steadily  weaker.  This  is  one 
reason  the  more  for  having  recourse  to  a 
precious  help  which  I  set  myself  to  use  when 
I  lost  my  sight,  and  the  employment  of 
which  seems  to  me  particularly  valuable. 
I  speak  of  mnemonics. 

I  was  present  about  1862  at  several  meet- 
ings, where  the  extraordinary  man  who  called 
himself  Aime*  Paris  expounded  the  rules  of 
his  Mnemotechny. 

I  give  the  list  which  serves  as  a  key  to 
this  mnemonic  (persons  who  do  not  know 
Braille  need  only  disregard  the  first  line  of 
the  important  table  which  follows)  :  — 


-|Qm     T,T1M"P  ••••••••••••  •  • 

J.ST     UINE  «  •••••••••• 

2D    LINE  123456       7       890 

SD    LINE  te    ne   me   re    le    che   que   fe    pe   se 

LINE  de  gne  je      gu.8   ye  be    ze 


138  ON   BECOMING   BLIND 

The  first  line  contains  the  numerals  in 
Braille,  the  second  the  same  numerals  in  Ara- 
bic figures,  the  use  of  the  third  and  fourth 
lines  will  be  explained  by  the  examples  which 
will  be  given  presently. 

The  principle  consists  in  replacing  the 
numerals  to  be  retained  (taken  in  line  2), 
by  a  group  of  syllables  (in  line  3  or  4) 
whose  assemblage  makes  a  word  which  it  is 
sufficient  to  remember.  In  place  of  remem- 
bering a  number,  it  suffices  to  remember  a 
word,  and  to  recall  this  word  it  is  necessary 
to  associate  it  with  the  event  whose  date 
you  wish  to  recall,  by  some  phrase  which 
Aime  Paris  prefers  should  be  bizarre.  The 
procedure  not  only  serves  to  recall  dates  in 
history,  but  also  telephone  numbers,  etc. 

Example :  to  remember  the  date  of  the 
founding  of  Rome,  I  confine  myself  to  re- 
call "  colline  "  by  means  of  the  idea  that  the 
city  of  Rome  was  built  on  seven  hills.  The 
word  colline  contains  the  articulation  que, 
le,  ne,  which  in  the  preceding  table  occupy 
respectively  the  places  7,  5,  2 ;  I  find  752, 
the  date  of  the  founding  of  Rome. 


MEMORY  AND   MNEMONICS  139 

Another  example:  to  recall  the  date  of 
the  invention  of  spectacles,  I  remember  that 
spectacles  were  invented  for  the  old,  for  nos 
papas.  The  articulations  ne,  pe,  pe  give 
by  their  position  299,  and  as  we  know  that 
spectacles  do  not  date  so  very  far  back,  we 
have  the  date  1299,  the  first  figure  not 
requiring  to  be  formulated  in  the  mnemonic. 

The  mnemonic  itself  aids  us  in  remember- 
ing in  their  order  the  ten  syllables  which 
form  the  key.  Each  one  can  devise  a 
phrase,  which  he  will  recall  the  better  the 
more  silly  it  is.  I  imagine  to  myself,  for 
instance,  that  I  am  going  to  seek  my  dog 
at  the  pound,  he  having  been  taken  there 
because  he  was  in  the  street  without  a  muz- 
zle, and  touching  the  nose  of  the  dog  I  say 
to  him :  — 

Tu  .ZV'as  Mis  Rien  L&,  CHien  Qm  FVLS   Pin<7e 
12345         6          7890 

It  is  perfectly  silly,  and  the  more  ridicu- 
lous you  find  it,  the  more  you  will  be  forced 
to  remember.  After  all,  this  mnemonic  is 
no  stranger  than  the  one  commonly  used 
in  France  to  recall  the  subprefectures,  or  in 


140  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

Germany  to  learn  the  multiplication  table. 
You  will  see  later  on,  in  the  chapter  on 
stenography,  my  scheme  for  using  the  same 
ten  articulations  in  the  same  order  to  form 
the  type  line  of  stenography,  the  signs 
remaining  in  Braille  and  keeping  their  nu- 
merical significance.  The  result  is  that 
the  mnemonic  serves  as  an  easy  base  for 
stenography. 

In  mnemonics,  as  in  stenography,  the  soft 
consonants  correspond  to  the  same  order  as 
the  hard ;  de  comes  from  te ;  je  from  che ; 
gue  from  que ;  ve  from  fe ;  be  from  pe ;  and 
ze  from  se.  Equally  as  in  stenography,  the 
mute  consonants  are  considered  as  non- 
extant.  By  applying  these  two  rules,  if  you 
wish,  for  instance,  to  recall  the  number  741 
you  may  make  use  indifferently  of  the  words 
carte,  garder,  carder,  carton,  cordon,  Corton, 
ecourter,  encroute",  garde,  grade,  agrandi,  etc., 
which  gives  a  large  choice. 

A  last  example:  to  know  by  heart  the 
perpetual  calendar,  Aim 6  Paris  gave  very 
simple  formulae.  Here  is  one  only,  which 
gives  the  calendar  of  the  current  year: — 


MEMORY  AND  MNEMONICS  HI 

You  associate  with  the  names  of  the  days 
of  the  week,  beginning  with  Sunday,  the 
numbers,  0,  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6 ;  and  to  the 
months  the  following  figures :  0  for  January, 
3  for  February,  3  for  March,  6  for  April, 
1  for  May,  4  for  June,  6  for  July,  2  for 
August,  5  for  September,  0  for  October,  3 
for  November,  5  for  December. 

Let  us  suppose,  to  begin  with,  that  the 
year  begins  on  a  Sunday.  The  numbers 
which  have  just  been  given  show  the  day  of 
the  week  with  which  the  different  months 
begin ;  for  example,  the  figure  3  which  goes 
with  the  month  of  February  indicates  that 
the  first  of  February  is  a  Tuesday.  Second 
example :  the  figure  0  belonging  to  October 
shows  that  the  month  of  October  begins  on 
Sunday,  as  does  January.  All  these  numbers 
attached  to  the  different  months  are  not 
hard  to  remember.  If  you  wish  a  mnemonic 
to  help,  you  can  say :  — 

Fevrier  trois  (le  mois  le  plus  ttroit). 

Mars  trois  (m§me  chiffre  que  pour  feVrier,  ce  qui 

est  Evident  puisque  le  mois  de  fevrier  est  exacte- 

ment  de  4  semaines). 


142  ON  BECOMING  BLIND 

Avril  six  (mois  ou  Ton  fait  des  scies). 

Mai  un  (c'est  de  ce  mois  qu'a  la  campagne  on  plante 
a  la  porte  du  maire  un  mat  qui  porte  le  nom  de 
mai  et  qui  est  droit  comme  le  chiffre  1). 

Juin  quatre. 

Juillet  six  (il  fait  bon  d'§tre  asm  sous  les  abres). 

Aout  deux  (il  d'aout  d'etre  a  d'eux). 

Septembre  cinq  (mois  des  chasseurs  assassms). 

Octobre  z6ro  (forme  de  la  premiere  lettre  du  mot 
octobre). 

Noveinbre  trois  (le  vin  nouveau  subit  1' octroi). 

Decembre  cinq  (Noel  tombe  le  vingt-cwg). 

When  the  year  does  not  begin  on  Sunday, 
it  is  necessary  to  add  to  the  characteristic 
number  of  the  month  the  number  charac- 
terizing the  day  on  which  the  year  begins. 
In  leap  years  it  is  necessary  after  February 
to  add  a  day  to  all  the  numbers. 


XXIII 

ESPERANTO 

THE  great  majority  of  educated  and  intel- 
ligent blind  persons  with  whom  I  have  had 
to  do  have  resolved  to  learn  Esperanto,  so 
that  the  use  of  this  admirable  international 
language  seems  likely  to  spread  much  faster 
among  the  blind  than  among  other  men. 

It  is  polyglots  who  most  appreciate  Es- 
peranto, although  one  would  have  thought 
that  the  need  of  an  international  language 
would  be  least  felt  by  those  who  already 
know  several  languages.  This  tendency 
of  polyglots  to  adopt  the  auxiliary  lan- 
guage devised  by  Dr.  Samenhof  carries  great 
weight,  for  persons  who  know  several  lan- 
guages are  alone  competent  to  judge  of  the 
merits  of  a  new  idiom.  The  study  of 
Esperanto,  according  to  those  who  have 
devoted  themselves  to  it,  is  very  easy,  and, 
contrary  to  Volaptik,  the  language  is  har- 

143 


144  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

monious.  By  processes  as  simple  as  they 
are  ingenious,  Samenhof  has  reduced  to  an 
incredible  minimum  the  mental  effort  requi- 
site for  learning  this  language.  What  espe- 
cially distinguishes  Esperanto  is  that,  if  one 
limits  himself  to  knowing  how  to  read  with- 
out a  dictionary  (a  prime  point  for  the  blind), 
he  can  attain  this  in  a  few  days  if  he  gives 
himself  to  it  wholly. 

It  seems  to  me  that  the  usefulness  of 
Esperanto  ought  to  be  much  greater  to  the 
blind  than  to  those  who  can  see,  and  for 
two  reasons. 

In  the  first  place,  the  use  of  short  form 
in  almost  all  countries  brings  this  distressing 
consequence,  that  the  blind  loses  the  chief 
profit  of  his  knowledge  of  foreign  languages. 
I  read  freely  French,  German,  English,  and 
Italian,  and  can  make  out  with  Spanish, 
Portuguese,  and  Dutch.  All  this,  including 
what  remains  to  me  of  my  Greek  and  Latin, 
is  lost  if  I  have  to  read  a  foreign  publica- 
tion printed  in  relief  in  short  form.  The 
difficulty  of  reading  foreign  tongues  in  short 
form  is  such  that  M.  Monnier,  Secretary  of 


ESPERANTO  145 

the  International  Association  of  Blind  Stu- 
dents, is  obliged  to  request  his  correspon- 
dents to  write  out  words  in  full,  or  to  use 
Esperanto.  I  do  not  know  that  there  is  in 
Paris  a  single  person  who  knows  how  to 
read  short-form  raised  German.  This  is  an 
intolerable  condition. 

The  second  reason  which  makes  desirable 
and  probable  the  popularization  of  Espe- 
ranto among  the  blind  is,  that  in  each 
country  the  returns  from  books  printed  in 
raised  type  is  too  small  to  cover  the  cost  of 
the  publication. 

With  Esperanto  all  is  changed.  It  be- 
comes possible  to  print  a  weekly  review  for 
us,  containing  news  of  all  kinds.  We  can 
be  kept  informed,  among  the  productions  of 
modern  literature,  of  those  works  which, 
remarkable  for  their  ideas  or  style,  have 
been  distinguished  by  the  number  of  trans- 
lations made  into  other  languages.  The 
translation  of  "Hamlet"  by  Samenhof  shows 
the  suppleness  of  his  auxiliary  language. 

How  should  the  blind  set  out  to  learn 
Esperanto?  The  reply  to  this  question, 


146  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

good  at  the  time  when  I  write  these  lines, 
would  be  wrong  by  the  time  they  were 
read.  The  book  at  the  head  is  the  gram- 
mar of  Samenhof,  of  which  I  know  only 
the  French  translation.  This  grammar, 
with  the  exercises  which  accompany  it,  I 
recommend  without  any  restriction.  If  it 
cannot  be  had  in  raised  type,  have  it  read 
to  you.  You  will  find  readily  for  this  ser- 
vice some  one  who  wishes  to  learn  Espe- 
ranto. For  this  work  the  association  of 
two  or  more  persons  of  whom  one  is  blind 
is  perfect. 

In  any  case,  find  out  what  may  exist 
printed  in  raised  points  by  blind  Esperan- 
tists  in  the  country  where  the  blind  person 
lives. 

In  France  M.  Cart,  professor  at  the  Lyc6e 
Henri  IV,  one  of  the  most  zealous  advo- 
cates of  Esperanto,  has  published  in  raised 
points  a  resume  of  the  grammar  and  part 
of  the  exercises  of  Samenhof .  Do  not  use 
the  publications  of  Cart  until  you  have 
read  from  one  end  to  the  other  the  com- 
plete grammar. 


XXIV 

MARRIAGE 

OUGHT  one  to  advise  marriage  for  the 
blind  ? 

It  is  not  a  question,  be  it  well  under- 
stood, of  marriage  between  blind  persons, 
which  is  contrary  to  the  most  ordinary 
good  sense.  It  is  the  decision  whether  a 
blind  man  or  woman  should  marry. 

In  the  vast  majority  of  cases  the  mar- 
riage of  blind  persons  is  not  contraindicated 
by  any  fear  of  the  blindness  being  heredi- 
tary. Having  been  consulted  on  this  matter 
as  an  occulist,  I  did  not  limit  myself  to 
my  recollections  as  a  practitioner.  I  went 
through,  before  giving  my  reply,  the  many 
biographies  of  blind  persons  which  are  given 
in  Mell's  dictionary,  and  these  researches 
were  in  accord  with  my  own  remembrances, 
confirming,  that  if  there  are  cases  of  heredi- 

147 


148  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

tary  blindness,  they  are  so  rare  as  to  have 
escaped  our  investigations. 

Nevertheless,  it  does  not  follow  that  the 
physician  should  give  his  approval  to  every 
blind  person  who  wishes  to  marry.  For  the 
blind  who  have  lost  their  sight  by  accident 
the  question  of  heredity  does  not  come  up 
at  all ;  besides,  the  vast  majority  of  cases  of 
blindness  are  to  be  looked  on  as  accidental. 
Smallpox,  ophthalmia  neonatorum,  which 
are  even  to-day  the  great  sources  6f  blind- 
ness, have  nothing  hereditary.  But  if  the 
blind  person  who  wishes  to  marry  has  lost 
his  sight  from  an  affection  of  the  optic  nerve, 
the  choroid,  or  even  the  retina,  some  care 
should  be  taken.  For  example,  I  would 
oppose  the  marriage  of  a  person  who  had 
lost  his  sight  from  detachment  of  the  retina 
with  one  who  had  a  strong  myopia,  and  if, 
besides,  there  existed  any  strain  of  relation- 
ship between  the  two,  my  opposition  to  their 
marriage  would  be  unremovable. 

Leaving  aside,  then,  some  quite  exceptional 
cases,  the  physician  ought  not  to  oppose  the 
marriage  of  the  blind. 


MARRIAGE  149 

Once  the  medical  question  set  aside,  the 
other  circumstances  ought  to  be  weighed 
with  the  greatest  care.  Unquestionably  it 
is  the  rule,  when  the  blindness  comes  on  in 
the  course  of  married  life,  especially  if  it  be 
the  husband  who  is  stricken,  to  see  the  con- 
jugal affection  deepened  by  compassion ;  the 
blindness  of  one  of  the  pair  rarely  fails  to 
strengthen  preexisting  bonds.  As  to  con- 
tracting a  marriage,  the  question  is  quite 
different.  It  has  been  set  forth  in  its  vari- 
ous aspects  in  "  Les  Emmures,"  the  beauti- 
ful novel  of  Lucien  Descaves.1 

As  a  fact,  among  the  blind,  the  marriage 
of  girls  is  much  less  frequent  than  that  of 
men,  which  conforms  to  the  psychology 
of  the  two  sexes;  and  I  believe  that  as  a 
rule  the  matches  thus  made  are  success- 
ful. More  frequently  the  young  woman 
has  known  at  the  start  the  import  of  the 
engagement  which  she  has  undertaken,  and 
the  conditions  of  the  contract  being  re- 
versed, she  gives  aid  and  protection  to  her 
husband. 

1  Stock,  Paris,  1895. 


150  ON   BECOMING   BLIND 

It  is  a  pleasure  for  me  to  close  this  chap- 
ter by  the  translation  of  a  very  beautiful 
letter  sent  me  by  one  of  my  correspond- 
ents :  — 

"  Under  many  circumstances  the  decision 
will  be  dictated  by  the  age,  the  health,  the 
financial  position,  etc.  Blind  girls  will 
generally  do  better  to  forego  marriage. 
Margaret  Wilhelm,  the  wife  of  a  railroad 
crossing  guard,  has  poured  out  her  feel- 
ings in  a  poignant  poem,  'L'alouette  de 
Birchow.'  A  blind  man  who  marries  ex- 
poses himself  to  wretched  moments ;  it  will 
be  for  him  one  of  the  saddest  privations  never 
to  see  the  looks  of  his  wife  and  children. 
He  will  often  have  the  feeling  of  not  being 
able  to  fill  as  he  would  like  to  the  duties  of 
a  husband  and  father;  he  takes  upon  him 
burdens  which  the  bachelor  has  not.  Never- 
theless, marriage  seems  to  me  desirable  when 
circumstances  are  favorable.  Not  only  is 
feminine  aid  almost  indispensable  to  him, 
but  he  has  more  than  other  men  the  need 
of  living  among  beings  whom  he  can  call 
his  own,  in  whom  he  can  have  confidence, 


MARRIAGE  151 

and  who  surround  him  with  affection. 
Family  life  is  for  him  a  source  of  pure 
happiness.  As  for  myself,  I  cannot  think 
without  gratitude  of  all  the  joys  which  I 
experienced  in  the  midst  of  those  who  are 
dear  to  me." 

However  that  may  be,  before  marrying 
the  blind  will  do  well,  under  pain  of  lament- 
able consequences,  to  have  it  considered 
twice  by  some  devoted  friends. 


XXV 

THE   SIXTH   SENSE 

IT  is  not  without  apprehension  that  I 
have  written  the  words  the  sixth  sense  at  the 
head  of  this  chapter,  for  it  is  very  possible 
that  the  facts  in  question  may  be  explain- 
able by  the  five  senses. 

On  the  other  hand,  in  the  present  state 
of  our  knowledge,  it  is  doubtful  whether 
the  persons  for  whom  this  book  is  intended 
can  draw  any  immediate  or  practical  benefit 
from  reading  this  exposition.  Neverthe- 
less, it  has  seemed  useful  here  to  set  forth 
the  information  I  have  been  able  to  gather 
concerning  "  the  sense  of  obstacles,"  in  the 
hope  that  some  one  of  my  readers  will  be 
led  to  write  me,  for  insertion  in  a  second 
edition,  the  facts  he  may  have  observed  or 
the  experiments  he  may  have  made,  the 
knowledge  of  which  would  be  such  as  to 

152 


THE   SIXTH   SENSE  153 

extend  the  ideas  we  have  of  perceptions 
which  the  blind  can  make  use  of. 

Exposition  of  facts. — Every  one  who  has 
carefully  observed  blind  persons  knows  that 
there  are  among  them  some  completely 
blind  who  have,  more  or  less  developed, 
what  they  call  the  sense  of  obstacles.  One 
sees  children  run  about  in  their  play  with- 
out bumping  into  trees ;  this  faculty  is  pres- 
ent with  them  even  in  a  place  where  they 
find  themselves  for  the  first  time.  Walking 
in  a  passageway,  they  recognize  without 
hesitation  whether  a  door  across  their  way 
is  open.  I  arn  even  assured  that  some  of 
them  have  this  sense  sufficiently  developed 
to  allow  them  to  count  the  windows  of  the 
first  floor  of  a  building  which  they  are  pass- 
ing in  front  of.  This  perception  of  obstacles 
makes  one  think  of  the  experiment  of  the 
celebrated  Spallanzani,  who  saw  bats  con- 
tinue to  fly  about,  without  striking  them- 
selves, after  he  had  taken  out  their  eyes. 

The  sense  of  obstacles  is  very  clearly 
mentioned  in  a  number  of  biographies 
of  blind  persons.  The  oldest  description 


154  ON   BECOMING   BLIND 

which  I  know  is  found  in  Diderot's  "  Let- 
tres  sur  les  aveugles." 

Most  frequently  the  blind  assert  that  the 
seat  of  the  sensation  which  we  are  consider- 
ing is  chiefly  the  forehead :  they  never 
speak  of  experiencing  it  in  the  hands. 
There  are  some  who  attribute  the  sense  of 
an  obstacle  to  the  pressure  of  the  air, 
which  is  incorrect,  for  those  whom  I  have 
asked  affirm  that  the  perception  is  sharper 
when  they  approach  slowly  the  object  whose 
facial  sensation  gives  them  warning  of  its 
presence.  This  sensation  is  always  vague, 
and  according  to  the  expression  of  some 
blind  people  subject  to  mirage;  that  is  to 
say,  they  sometimes  stop  short  in  their  walk 
with  the  fear  of  striking  themselves,  when 
they  are  not  in  the  neighborhood  of  any 
obstacle. 

Before  hazarding  any  explanation  of 
these  facts,  I  will  say  that  the  authors  are 
far  from  being  agreed :  some  tax  their  in- 
genuity to  attribute  them  all  to  auditory 
sensations ;  others  do  not  allow  the  auditory 
sense  any  rSle  in  the  process ;  others  admit 


THE  SIXTH   SENSE  155 

that  the  tympanum  acts  as  a  receptor  with- 
out there  being  any  auditory  perception; 
and  finally,  some  blind  people  have  told  me 
that  they  believed  in  simultaneous  action 
of  auditory  and  other  sensation s,  the  respec- 
tive roles  of  which  it  was  impossible  for 
them  to  determine. 

First,  the  facts  which  I  have  been  able 
to  gather.  The  reader  will  please  note  the 
divergence  of  opinion  on  the  effect  of  snow. 

M.  G.,  Professor  of  History  at  the  National 
Institute  of  Paris,  lost  his  sight  at  the  age 
of  four  years  from  atrophy  of  the  optic 
nerves.  Complete  absence  of  smell.  He 
distinguishes  light  from  darkness  and  at 
times  perceives  dimly  large  objects.  No 
perception  from  radium.  A  first-class  ob- 
server, M.  G.  enjoys  beyond  possible  ques- 
tion the  sense  of  obstacles,  thanks  to  which, 
for  example,  when  going  along  a  street,  he 
is  sure  of  not  running  into  either  trees  or 
lamp  posts  in  front.  He  avoids  even  in  the 
country  the  large  piles  of  stones  along  the 
roadside.  He  senses  more  than  two  metres 
away  the  presence  of  a  wall.  In  my  pres- 


156  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

ence  he  recognized  in  the  middle  of  a  room 
a  large  piece  of  furniture  which  he  thought 
was  a  billiard  table.  We  determined  that 
the  mass  of  the  object  influences  his  percep- 
tion. A  sheet  of  paper  does  not  make  the 
same  impression  on  him  as  a  thick  book  of 
the  same  form.  He  states  that  at  home  the 
sense  of  obstacles  is  much  more  distinct  in 
complete  darkness;  there  is,  therefore,  no 
possibility  that  the  perception  of  large 
objects  is  due  to  the  visual  sense.  For  him, 
as  for  many  others,  the  sense  of  obstacles 
disappears  in  noisy  surrounding. 

Following  this  case,  which  I  observed  at 
first  hand,  here  is  one  sent  me  by  a  very 
sagacious  observer :  — 

"I  know  in  my  neighborhood  a  young 
man  of  twenty-seven,  blind  from  the  age  of 
two,  very  intelligent,  who  has  just  finished 
his  education  and  apprenticeship  in  the  trade 
of  a  music  tuner.  He  is  his  own  guide  and 
goes  about  alone  on  his  routes.  His  village 
is  four  kilometres  from  mine ;  when  he 
comes  to  see  me  he  walks  very  rapidly  and 
without  hesitation  turns  at  a  right  angle 


THE   SIXTH   SENSE  157 

when  he  comes  abreast  of  the  road  which 
leads  to  my  house.  It  is  the  sense  of  hear- 
ing which  leads  him  to  avoid  obstacles. 

"  When  there  is  a  high  wind  shaking  the 
leaves  on  the  trees  along  the  road,  he  some- 
times strikes  against  obstacles  he  would 
avoid  in  a  calm.  The  confused  noise  of  the 
foliage  deadens  the  sound  of  his  footsteps. 

"  In  the  same  way,  when  there  is  snow  he 
does  not  hear  any  echo  from  the  trees  along 
the  road,  and  he  is  obliged  to  strike  his  hand 
against  his  thigh  to  make  a  noise,  the  echo 
of  which,  sent  back  to  him,  reveals  the 
neighborhood  of  obstacles. 

"  I  have  made  him  try  the  following  ex- 
periments :  the  first  time  I  placed  him  in 
front  of  a  wall  and  had  him  turn  around 
several  times  and  then  asked  him,  *  Where 
is  the  wall?'  He  replied,  'Your  voice  is 
echoed  back  to  me  by  the  wall,  which  is 
there/  and  he  indicated  very  exactly  the 
direction  of  the  wall. 

"  In  a  second  experiment  I  placed  myself 
between  the  blind  fellow  and  the  wall,  after 
placing  under  his  feet  a  carpet  to  deaden 


158  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

strange  sounds.  I  made  him  turn  around 
several  times  after  telling  him  to  indicate  to 
me  the  obstacle  as  soon  as  he  should  stop 
turning.  Without  waiting  for  my  question 
he  seemed  to  hesitate  a  moment.  I  had 
stopped  him  with  his  back  to  the  wall.  He 
replied,  '  The  wall  is  ...  behind  me/ 

"  I  asked  him  the  reason  for  the  hesitation 
in  his  reply  ?  He  said,  <  At  my  first  words, 
"  the  wall,"  I  did  not  hear  my  words  strike 
against  an  obstacle  in  front  of  me;  so  I 
concluded  that  the  obstacle  was  behind  me/  ' 

Another  blind  man  of  my  acquaintance, 
who  has  difficulty  in  orienting  himself  when 
there  is  snow  on  the  ground,  has  told  me 
that  he  is  much  troubled  in  going  about  the 
house  if  he  has  on  felt  slippers. 

I  take  the  following  from  a  letter  of 
M.  Imbert,  professor  in  the  Faculty  of  Medi- 
cine at  Montpellier  :  — 

"I  have  begun  some  experiments  with 
a  blind  professor  in  the  Institute  of  Mont- 
pellier, who  has  not  the  least  light  percep- 
tion. He  acquainted  me  with  a  fact  peculiar 
to  himself,  which  I  think  will  interest  you. 


THE   SIXTH   SENSE  159 

M.  Ferrari,  the  blind  man  in  question,  during 
a  thunder  storm  distinctly  perceives  a  flash 
of  lightning  before  hearing  the  thunder, 
and  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  light  percep- 
tion. M.  Ferrari  cannot  otherwise  charac- 
terize the  sensation  which  he  then  has,  but 
it  exists  and  does  not  deceive  him.  This 
seems  at  first  most  hard  to  explain,  but  the 
explanation  must  be  sought,  I  believe,  in  the 
known  domain  of  physics,  and  ought  to  be 
in  accord  with  the  variations  in  the  electric 
field  which  occur  during  a  thunder-storm. 
In  any  case  this  explanation  will  be  perhaps 
very  hard  to  prove  by  experiment." 

This  passage  from  M.  Imbert  is  the  most 
interesting  since  he  is  much  given  to  ex- 
plaining by  audition  most  phenomena  which 
concern  us.  He  has  made  experiments 
similar  to  those  of  William  James,  which 
will  be  spoken  of  farther  on. 

I  have  kept  for  the  last  a  much  more 
complete  case  than  the  preceding ;  that  of 
W.  Hanks  Levy,  cited  by  William  James.1 

1  "  Principles  of  Psychology."  Macmillan  &  Co.,  Lon- 
don, 1891,  Vol.  II,  p.  204. 


160  ON  BECOMING  BLIND 

A  blind  man,  Mr.  W.  Hanks  Levy,  author 
of  a  work  entitled  "Blindness  and  the 
Blind," l  tells  us  in  the  following  manner  of 
his  faculty  of  perception  :  — 

"  Whether  within  a  house  or  in  the  open 
air,  whether  walking  or  standing  still,  I 
can  tell,  although  quite  blind,  when  I 
am  opposite  an  object,  and  can  perceive 
whether  it  be  tall  or  short,  slender  or  bulky. 
I  can  also  detect  whether  it  be  a  solitary 
object  or  a  continuous  fence ;  whether  it  be 
a  close  fence  or  composed  of  open  rails; 
and  often  whether  it  be  a  wooden  fence,  a 
brick  or  stone  wall,  or  a  quickset  hedge.  I 
cannot  perceive  objects  if  much  lower  than 
my  shoulder,  but  sometimes  very  low  objects 
can  be  detected.  This  may  depend  on  the 
nature  of  the  objects,  or  on  some  abnormal 
state  of  the  atmosphere.  The  currents  of 
air  can  have  nothing  to  do  with  this  power, 
as  the  state  of  the  wind  does  not  directly 
affect  it ;  the  sense  of  hearing  has  nothing 
to  do  with  it,  as  when  snow  lies  thickly 
on  the  ground  objects  are  more  distinct, 

i  London,  1872. 


THE  SIXTH   SENSE  161 

although  the  footfall  cannot  be  heard.  I 
seem  to  perceive  objects  through  the  skin 
of  my  face,  and  to  have  the  impressions 
immediately  transmitted  to  the  brain.  The 
only  part  of  my  body  possessing  this  power 
is  my  face;  this  I  have  ascertained  by 
suitable  experiments.  Stopping  my  ears 
does  not  interfere  with  it,  but  covering  my 
face  with  a  thick  veil  destroys  it  altogether. 
None  of  the  five  senses  have  anything  to  do 
with  the  existence  of  this  power,  and  the 
circumstances  above  named  induce  me  to 
call  this  unrecognized  sense  by  the  name  of 
facial  perception.  .  .  .  When  passing  along 
a  street  I  can  distinguish  shops  from  private 
houses,  and  even  point  out  the  doors  and 
windows,  etc.,  and  this  whether  the  doors 
be  shut  or  open.  When  a  window  consists 
of  one  entire  sheet  of  glass,  it  is  more  diffi- 
cult to  discover  than  one  composed  of  a 
number  of  small  panes.  From  this  it  would 
appear  that  glass  is  a  bad  conductor  of 
sensation,  or  at  any  rate  of  the  sensation 
specially  connected  with  this  sense.  When 
objects  below  the  face  are  perceived,  the 


162  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

sensation  seems  to  come  in  an  oblique  line 
from  the  object  to  the  upper  part  of  the 
face.  While  walking  with  a  friend  in 
Forest  Lane,  Stratford,  I  said,  pointing  to 
a  fence  which  separated  the  road  from  a 
field,  '  Those  rails  are  not  quite  as  high  as 
my  shoulder.'  He  looked  at  them  and 
said  they  were  higher.  We,  however, 
measured  and  found  them  about  three 
inches  lower  than  my  shoulder.  At  the 
time  of  making  this  observation,  I  was 
about  four  feet  from  the  rails.  Certainly 
in  this  instance  facial  perception  was  more 
accurate  than  sight.  When  the  lower  part 
of  a  fence  is  brickwork,  and  the  upper  part 
rails,  the  fact  can  be  detected,  and  the  line 
where  the  two  meet  easily  perceived.  Ir- 
regularities in  height  and  projections  and  in- 
dentations in  walls  can  also  be  discovered." 
William  James  adds  that  with  Levy  the 
perception  is  diminished  during  a  storm, 
but  remains  intact  in  darkness.  (I  know  a 
blind  man  who  is  similarly  affected.)  He 
adds  that  Levy  did  possess  the  faculty  of 
recognizing  if  a  cloud  obscured  the  horizon, 


THE   SIXTH   SENSE  163 

but  that,  with  him,  this  sensation,  which 
exists  in  other  blind  persons,  has  wholly 
disappeared. 

The  preceding  facts  are  far  from  being 
numerous  enough  to  put  us  in  the  position 
to  grasp  the  mechanism  by  which  the  blind 
perceive  the  presence  of  obstacles.  Never- 
theless, it  is  impossible  to  read  them  with- 
out thinking  of  the  celebrated  discussion  of 
Lord  Kelvin  upon  the  six  doors  of  knowl- 
edge.1 What  follows  is  not  in  contradiction 
to  the  ideas  of  Lord  Kelvin. 

Man  possesses  six  senses  and  not  five. 
It  is  not  at  all  correct  to  put  heat  percep- 
tion into  the  ensemble  known  under  the 
name  of  tactile  sense.  The  seat  of  these 
sensations  is  different,  as  proved  by  a  disease 
of  the  spinal  cord  known  by  the  name  of 
syringomyelia,  which  shows  itself  by  the 
loss  of  heat  sensation  with  the  preservation 
of  the  tactile  sense.  It  requires  the  contact 
of  ponderable  bodies  to  give  rise  to  auditory 
sensations  in  us,  as  sound  is  not  transmitted 

1  William  Thomson  (Lord  Kelvin),  address  given  at 
the  Birmingham  and  Midland  Institute,  October  3,  1883. 


164  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

across  a  vacuum.  It  is  probably  the  same 
with  odors ;  and  touch  properly  so  called,  as 
its  name  indicates,  is  exercised  only  by  con- 
tact. It  is  entirely  different  from  vision, 
which  renders  perceptible  the  vibrations  of 
a  certain  part  of  the  spectrum.  Besides,  our 
skin  is  affected  by  invisible  portions  of  the 
spectrum.  The  sunburn  produced  by  re- 
flection from  the  snow  or  from  the  electric 
arc,  and  whose  appearance  is  not  often  ac- 
companied by  any  sensation  of  warmth,  is 
generally  attributed  to  the  action  of  the 
ultra-violet  rays.  On  the  other  hand,  and 
it  is  just  this  which  interests  us  here,  the 
infra-red  rays  produce  a  heat  effect. 

The  notion  of  radiant  heat  is  common. 
A  sensation  of  heat  is  experienced  by  our 
skin  without  its  being  in  contact  with  a 
hot  body.  Who  has  not  enjoyed  the  im- 
pression of  warmth  produced  on  our  organs 
by  a  clear  sun  enlivening  a  beautiful  summer 
day?  Seated  in  front  of  a  hearth  hi  the 
coldest  room,  a  bright  fire  can  warm  our 
face  to  such  a  point  that  it  is  pleasant  to 
protect  it  with  a  screen. 


THE   SIXTH   SENSE  165 

If  the  frontal  sense  is  a  phenomenon  of 
radiation,  the  subjects  who  possess  it  could 
increase  it  by  blackening  the  forehead  with 
lampblack.  Every  one  knows  that  black 
clothes  make  us  more  sensitive  to  the  solar 
radiation. 

It  would  be  interesting  to  find  out  if 
obscure  radiations  do  not  play  some  part  in 
the  perception  of  obstacles  by  the  blind. 
A  fact  cited  by  William  James  does  not 
look  favorable  to  this  hypothesis:  — 

"  A  blind  man,  Mr.  Kilbourne,  teacher  in 
the  Perkins  Institute,  South  Boston,  who 
possesses  to  a  remarkable  degree  the  power 
of  perceiving  clouds,  has  been  found  not  to 
have  on  his  face  a  sensibility  to  heat  greater 
than  other  persons." 

But  after  trial  made  by  closing  the  ears 
carefully,  it  was  proven  that  with  Mr.  Kil- 
bourne the  sense  of  obstacles  rested  upon 
auditory  phenomena. 

To  the  preceding  theoretic  ideas,  which 
differ  little  from  those  of  Lord  Kelvin,  I 
will  add  that  embryologically  the  retina  is 
related  to  the  cutaneous  epithelium :  one 


166  ON   BECOMING   BLIND 

may  then  conceive  that  this  epithelium  in 
the  frontal  region  might  be  lightly  affected 
by  a  certain  extension  of  the  spectrum 
whose  limits  are  not  the  same  as  those  of 
the  luminous  spectrum,  and  may  even  be 
very  far  distant  from  it.  It  was  for  this 
reason  that  I  tried  whether  the  skin  of  the 
forehead  on  blind  persons  would  be  affected 
by  the  rays  emitted  by  radium.  The  result 
of  this  experiment,  of  which  far  too  much 
noise  was  made  in  the  papers,  was  negative.1 

Practical  application.  —  It  would  be  per- 
haps useful,  and  surely  interesting,  to  search 
for  the  means  of  calling  forth  and  develop- 
ing in  the  adult  this  sense,  which  so  far,  it 
seems  to  me,  has  been  the  privilege  of  those 
who  have  lost  their  sight  at  an  early  age. 

As  the  first  basis  of  this  study  it  seems 
logical  to  find  out  the  conditions  most 
favorable  for  its  exercise  in  those  who  pos- 
sess this  perception.  We  would  then  try  to 
place  the  adult  under  the  same  conditions. 

Unfortunately,  the  few  facts  which  I  have 

i  Vide  Bulletin  de  I'AcadSmie  de  Mddecine  de  Paris, 
Stance  of  April  1, 1902. 


THE   SIXTH   SENSE  167 

gathered  so  far  are  neither  precise  nor  in 
accord. 

A  short  while  after  losing  my  sight,  as  I 
heard  this  sense  of  obstacles  spoken  of,  I 
made  some  trials  to  see  if  its  application 
could  be  of  some  use  to  me.  These  trials 
gave  a  negative  result,  and  by  a  rash  gener- 
alization I  came  to  believe  that  this  sense  is 
the  privilege  of  those  born  blind,  when  I 
received  from  M.  Leon,  in  whom  this  sense 
is  strongly  developed,  a  copy  of  James's 
book,  already  several  times  quoted,  with  the 
following  passage  marked : 1  — 

"  The  membrana  tympani  is  susceptible 
of  noticing  differences  of  pressure  exerted 
by  the  external  atmosphere,  differences 
much  too  small  to  be  possibly  distinguished 
as  a  sound.  After  being  seated  and  having 
the  eyes  closed,  let  the  reader  ask  some  one 
to  bring  silently  before  his  face  an  object 
like  a  large  book ;  he  will  at  once  have  a 
consciousness  of  its  presence  as  well  as  of 
its  removal.  A  friend  of  the  author,  trying 
this  for  the  first  time,  distinguished  without 

Loc.  cit.,  p.  140. 


168  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

hesitation  the  three  degrees  of  thickness  of 
a  board,  a  trellis,  and  a  sieve  held  succes- 
sively before  his  ear.  Since  they  who  see 
never  make  use  of  this  sensation  as  a  means 
of  perception,  we  can  admit  that,  for  those 
whose  attention  is  called  to  these  phenom- 
ena for  the  first  time,  this  appreciation  is 
a  quasi-sensation  and  owes  nothing  to  the 
education  of  the  senses.  But  what  is  per- 
ceived is  very  clearly  and  without  denial 
the  absence  of  limitation  of  space,  quite  as 
when  lying  on  the  back  one  perceives  noth- 
ing but  the  blue  and  limitless  extent  of  sky. 
When  some  one  brings  an  object  to  our  ear, 
we  at  once  experience  a  sense  of  imprison- 
ment or  shut-in-ness.  If  the  object  is  sud- 
denly taken  away,  it  seems  as  if  we  were 
freed  and  in  the  presence  of  free  space. 
And  to  whomsoever  takes  the  trouble  to 
try  it,  this  sensation  will  be  that  of  a  vague 
appreciation  of  space." 

William  James  adds  this  note:  "The 
proof  that  this  sensation  is  tactile  rather  than 
acoustic  seems  to  follow  from  the  fact  that 
a  physician,  a  friend  of  the  author,  nearly 


THE   SIXTH   SENSE  169 

deaf  in  one  ear,  although  the  two  tympana 
are  normal,  feels  the  presence  or  removal  of 
an  object  as  well  with  one  ear  as  with  the 
other." 

From  these  few  lines  I  conclude  that 
others  more  gifted  may  succeed  where  I 
have  failed.  I  point  them  out  a  subject 
for  study.  It  is  presumable  that  by  vary- 
ing the  nature  of  the  objects  employed  one 
will  be  able  to  discover  the  most  favorable 
conditions  for  the  birth  of  the  perception 
which  is  the  subject  of  this  chapter,  and 
that,  the  first  step  being  the  hardest,  these 
trials  may  terminate  in  results  having  a 
practical  utility. 


XXVI 

PSYCHOLOGY   OF   THE   BLIND 

EGOISM  and  vanity  are  the  prime  motives 
of  human  actions :  with  the  blind  these 
faults  sometimes  assume  excessive  propor- 
tions. It  is  quite  natural,  indeed,  that  the 
blind,  deprived  of  the  most  efficient  means 
of  self-defence,  should  be  especially  self- 
centred  and  preoccupied  with  the  help  that 
he  can  attract  or  demand  from  another ;  that 
he  should  think  more  of  himself  than  of 
others  better  armed  for  the  struggle.  The 
vanity  which  one  often  meets  in  him  finds 
its  chief  nourishment  in  the  wonder  ex- 
pressed by  those  who  notice  every  time  he 
does  anything  alone. 

After  all,  is  vanity  a  vice?  Is  it  not 
rather  a  motive  which  often  leads  to  well- 
doing ?  That  the  blind  should  devote  him- 
self to  useful  pursuits,  that  he  should  have 
the  desire  of  working  for  another,  that  he 

170 


PSYCHOLOGY   OF   THE   BLIND         171 

should  provide  for  the  needs  of  his  family 
in  spite  of  his  infirmity  and  take  pride  in 
it,  —  where  is  the  harm  ? 

"  The  moralists  have  said,  '  Choke  out 
thy  pride/  I  say,  ' Justify  it;  it  is  the 
secret  of  all  great  lives.' " l 

A  characteristic  trait  of  the  blind  is  to 
reflect  much,  to  ruminate,  so  to  speak,  on 
the  past,  and  to  draw  logical  deductions 
therefrom  ;  it  is  not  uncommon,  then,  for  a 
blind  man  to  be  a  person  of  good  counsel, 
above  all  if  he  has  lost  his  sight  late. 
Accordingly  an  intimacy  between  the  blind 
and  little  children,  so  pleasant  for  him  and 
profitable  for  them,  is  not  a  very  rare  sight. 

The  blind  are  often  encouraged  by  a  very 
living  religious  faith.  This  is  not  surpris- 
ing, for,  accustomed  to  accept  the  reality  of 
things  they  do  not  see,  they  believe  easily 
in  the  immediate  presence  of  an  invisible 
God  and  incline  to  a  mysticism  which  can 
lift  them  away  from  the  things  of  earth  and 
humanity. 

When  a  young  man  first  loses  his  sight,  he 

1  Daniel  Sterne,  "  Esquisses  morales  et  politiques." 


172  ON  BECOMING  BLIND 

should  be  left  in  an  asylum  for  the  blind  only 
for  the  time  absolutely  necessary.  This  very 
special  surrounding  is  indeed  particularly 
unsuited  to  the  development  of  the  qualities 
necessary  for  ordinary  life. 

It  has  been  interesting  to  me  to  inform 
myself  on  the  inner  life  of  the  blind,  and 
better  than  in  special  works  l  I  have  found 
these  indications  in  the  works  of  the  realistic 
novelists.  I  have  read  with  interest  the 
"  Musicien  aveugle  "  by  Korolenko,2  and  have 
quoted  above  with  praise  the  "  Emmure's  " 
of  Lucien  Descaves. 

Along  a  special  line  of  ideas,  the  novel  of 
Marc  Monnier,8  "  Entre  Aveugles,"  presents 
the  impressions  of  one  born  blind  who  has  just 
received  his  sight  as  the  result  of  an  opera- 
tion. The  writer  was  inspired  by  the  cele- 
brated relation  of  Jurin,  in  the  Optique  de 
Smith9  of  the  impressions  of  a  blind  man 

1  There  is  a  long  list  in  the  "  Encyklopadisches  Hand- 
buch  des  Blindenwesens,"  by  Professor  Alexandra  Mell. 
2  vols.  in  8vo,  Pichler,  Vienna  and  Leipzig,  1900. 

8  Volume  of  stories  entitled  "La  Foret  murmure," 
French  translation.  Armand  Colin,  Paris,  1895. 

*  "  Le  Channeur."     Charpentier,  Paris,  1882. 


PSYCHOLOGY   OF   THE   BLIND         173 

who  had  his  sight  restored  to  him  some  two 
hundred  years  ago  by  the  oculist  Cheselden. 
This  observation  has  been  related  more  or 
less  completely  in  the  works  on  physics, 
physiology,  and  psychology,  notably  in 
Helmholtz's  "  Optique  physiologique." l 

Under  the  title  of  "Roman  d'une  aveu- 
gle,"  2  M.  Dufau,  who  was  for  a  long  while 
Director  of  the  Institute  du  boulevard  des 
Invalides,  has  written  a  volume  of  fiction 
in  which  he  has  made  use  of  observations 
gathered  in  real  life. 

Most  writers,  and  above  all  poets,  who  are 
blind  make  the  mistake  of  trying  to  picture 
visual  sensations  which  they  know  only  by 
hearsay.  M.  Guilbeau,  in  his  "  Chants  et 
legendes  de  1'aveugle," 8  avoids  this  error, 
and  I  will  say  as  much  of  Mme.  Galeron 
de  Calonne,  who  is  blind  and  almost  wholly 
deaf.  I  cannot  resist  the  pleasure  of  quot- 
ing a  few  stanzas  from  this  remarkable 
woman.4 

1  Translation  by  Javal  and  Klein.  Masson,  Paris,  1878. 

2  "  Le  roraan  d'une  aveugle-nee."   Paris,  1851,  k  1'Insti- 
tution  nationale.  8  Paris,  1894. 

4  "  Dans  ma  nuit,"  Alfonse  Lemerre,  Paris,  1897. 


174  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

"REVE  D'AVEUGLE 

"  Quand  le  sorumeil  beni  me  ramene  le  r§ve, 
Ce  que  mes  yeux  jadis  ont  vu,  je  le  revois ; 
Lorsque  la  nuit  se  fait,  c'est  mon  jour  qui  se  leve, 
Et  c'est  mon  tour  de  vivre  alors  comme  autrefois. 
****** 

"  litres  mal  de'finis,  choses  que  je  devine, 
Tout  cesse  d'§tre  vague  et  vient  se  devoiler, 
C'est  la  lumiere,  c'est  la  nature  divine, 
Ce  sont  des  traits  cheris  que  je  peux  contempler. 

"  Et  quand  je  me  reVeille  encor  toute  ravie, 
Et  que  je  me  retrouve  en  mon  obscurite*, 
Je  doute  et  je  confonds  le  r§ve  avec  la  vie: 
Mon  cauchemar  commence  a  la  realiteV' 

"  QU'lMPORTE ! 

"  Je  ne  la  vois  plus,  la  splendeur  des  roses, 
Mais  le  ciel  a  fait  la  part  de  chacun. 
Qu'importe  1'eclat  ?     J'ai  Fame  des  choses ; 
Je  ne  la  vois  plus  la  splendeur  des  roses ; 
Mais  j'ai  leur  parfuin. 

"  Je  ne  le  vois  pas  ton  regard  qui  m'aime 
Lorsque  je  le  sens  sur  moi  se  poser. 
Qu'importe  !  un  regret  serait  un  blaspheme. 
Je  ne  le  vois  pas  ton  regard  qui  m'aime. 
Mais  j'ai  ton  baiser." 
****** 


PSYCHOLOGY   OF   THE   BLIND         175 

That  is  something  above  the  common, 
and  the  example  of  this  beautiful  serenity 
ought  to  bring  shame  to  those  whom  the 
loss  of  sight  plunges  into  a  gloomy  despair. 
Each  one  willingly  believes  that  blindness  is 
a  much  greater  misfortune  for  him  than  for 
his  neighbor.  Instead  of  comparing  our  lot 
with  that  of  those  who  can  see,  would  we  not 
do  better  to  turn  our  thoughts  toward  those 
who  in  their  night  are  delivered  at  the  same 
time  over  to  deafness,  to  the  wretchedness 
of  dark  and  solitude  ? 

Near  the  beginning  of  "Stello"  some  lines 
justify  the  prejudice  that  the  blind  are  hap- 
pier than  the  deaf.  They  are :  — 

"  If  the  deaf  seem  to  us  always  gloomy, 
it  is  because  we  only  see  them  at  the  time 
when  they  are  deprived  of  the  speech  of 
men ;  and  if  the  blind  appear  always  happy 
and  smiling,  it  is  because  we  see  them  at  the 
time  when  the  human  voice  consoles  them." 

I  share  fully  the  opinion  of  Alfred  de 
Vigny.  The  difference  of  which  he  speaks 
is  still  more  marked  if  it  concerns  persons 
who  have  lost  a  sense  they  previously  en- 


176  ON  BECOMING  BLIND 

joyed.  Deafness  does  not  wreck  a  man's 
career  as  does  blindness ;  it  leaves  him  free, 
while  the  blind  man  is  at  the  mercy  of  some 
one  else.  The  deaf  man  can  let  himself  be 
morose ;  the  blind  man  is  obliged  to  appear 
amiable.  One  may  say,  then,  that  if  the  blind 
is  more  affable  than  the  deaf  man,  if  he  tries 
to  appear  contented,  if  he  is  sociable,  this  is 
rather  the  index  of  the  fear  he  has  of  being 
left  alone  in  his  darkness. 

I  should  admit  that  a  contrary  opinion 
has  been  expressed  to  me  by  Mme.  Galeron 
de  Calonne.  whose  blindness  and  deafness 
go  back  to  the  age  of  five  years.  I  attrib- 
ute her  opinion  to  the  fact  that  her  deaf- 
ness, not  being  absolute,  she  is  daily  im- 
pressed by  the  imperfection  of  her  hearing.1 


1  Mme.  Galeron,  during  a  few  months  when  her  deaf- 
ness was  total,  communicated  with  her  husband  by  means 
of  the  signs  of  the  Morse  alphabet.  This  communication 
took  place  in  certain  instances  without  the  knowledge  of 
assistants  or  even  at  a  distance,  by  jogging  a  table.  Inter- 
course with  people  being  possible  to  her  only  by  contact, 
she  has  acquired  an  extraordinary  memory  of  various 
hands  and  come  to  recognize  in  this  way  a  person  after  sev- 
eral years'  interval.  One  of  her  daughters  had  the  idea 


PSYCHOLOGY  OF   THE   BLIND          177 

Among  men  who  are  free  from  material 
anxieties,  those  who  have  never  taken 
thought  save  of  their  pleasures  and  their 
own  affairs  are  the  most  unhappy  when  they 
lose  their  sight.  By  a  sort  of  distributive 
justice,  those,  on  the  contrary,  who  have  set 
before  them  as  the  chief  aim  of  life  to  con- 
tribute to  the  extent  of  their  power  to  the 
general  progress,  find  resources  in  them- 
selves ;  every  one,  whatever  his  social  posi- 
tion and  his  intellectual  faculties  may  be, 
can  always  find  satisfaction  in  contributing 
to  the  happiness  of  another. 

Men  of  science  occupy  a  privileged  posi- 
tion ;  they  have,  in  fact,  a  whole  fund  of  ac- 
quired knowledge  which  they  can  make  use 
of.  So  long  as  they  can  still  bring  their 
stone,  however  small  it  may  be,  to  the 
building  of  civilization  and  progress,  they 
feel  that  they  live;  and  whatever  be  the 
wounds  received,  they  are  not  hors  de  com- 
bat, —  the  inequality  of  arms  only  increases 

of  speaking  to  her  into  her  hand,  and  she  succeeded  in 
thus  getting  several,  words,  probably  by  feeling  the  move- 
ments of  the  lips  and  the  expired  air. 


178  ON   BECOMING  BLIND 

their  ardor.  More  happy  still  if,  by  in- 
crease, their  work  having  been  of  use  to 
some  one,  they  can  repeat  with  serenity  the 
words  of  Ecclesiastes,  "My  heart  rejoiced 
in  all  my  labor ;  and  this  was  my  portion 
of  all  my  labor." 


xxvn 

USEFUL  ADDRESSES 

IN  all  countries  one  necessarily  goes  to 
the  special  schools  for  the  blind  to  obtain 
most  articles  useful  for  the  blind,  such  as 
tablets,  soft  paper,  maps,  games,  etc. 

Thus  one  finds  at  the  National  Institu- 
tion in  Paris,  56  Boulevard  des  Invalides, 
rules,  tablets,  styles,  cubarithmes,  paper,  and 
a  certain  number  of  classic  books,  all  at  a 
price  given  in  a  printed  catalogue. 

The  so-called  Prague  tablet  can  be  had 
at  the  K.  K.  Institute  for  the  Education 
of  the  Blind,  1J  Wittelbachstrasse,  No.  5, 
Vienna,  Austria.  The  price  is  4.50  marks. 

The  Institute  at  Berlin  is  particularly 
well  supplied  with  games. 

There  are,  besides,  special  associations  for 
the  help  of  the  blind,  such  as  the  Associa- 
tion Valentin  Haiiy,  31  Avenue  de  Breteuil, 
Paris;  the  British  and  Foreign  Blind  Associa- 

179 


180  ON   BECOMING   BLIND 

tion,  33  Cambridge  Square,  W.,  London  ;  the 
International  Association  of  Blind  Students, 
10  Champel,  Geneva ;  the  special  establish- 
ment of  Dr.  Sommer,  7  Greves  Garten, 
Bergedorf,  near  Hamburg,  Germany,  where 
one  is  sure  to  meet  with  a  cordial  reception. 

A  catalogue  of  books  in  raised  points  can 
be  had  at  the  British  Association  and  at 
the  Association  Valentin  Haiiy.  The  first 
sends,  on  request,  a  catalogue  of  the  articles 
it  has  on  sale ;  the  second  has  organized  a 
service  for  lending  books,  with  stations  in 
several  cities.  From  them  one  can  get,  be- 
sides the  works  of  M.  de  la  Sizeranne,  the 
book  of  Captain  Mouchard  for  the  use  of 
adults  who  wish  to  learn  Braille  alone,  and 
that  of  Dr.  Javal  for  the  study  of  shortened 
form. 

Hotels  recommended  for  the  blind  are : 
in  Paris,  the  furnished  apartments  at  4  Rue 
Bertrand,  quite  near  the  Institute  (7  francs 
a  day) ;  and  in  London  the  pension  of  Miss 
Blott,  30  Saint  Charles  Square,  North  Ken- 
sington, London,  W.  (150  francs  a  month). 

Watches  for  the  blind  can  be  had,  in 


USEFUL   ADDRESSES  181 

Paris,  of  Ledeux,  Place  Saint- Andr^-des- Arts 
(30  francs),  and  of  Hass,  Boulevard  Sebasto- 
pol;  in  Strasburg,  of  Biettner  Oscar,  Alter 
Fleischmarkt,  40. 

Tandem  tricycles  are  sold  at  the  Societe* 
Frangais,  16  Avenue  de  la  Grande  Armee 
Paris  (600  francs). 

Wax  tablets  are  made  by  the  firm  of 
Carriere,  22  Rue  Saint-Sulpice,  and  54  Rue 
de  1'Abre  Sec,  Paris. 

"  La  methode  de  lecture "  (honored  by 
the  highest  award  at  the  Exposition  of 
1889)  is  sold  for  0.30  franc  at  Picard  and 
Kaan's,  11  Rue  Soufflot,  Paris. 

Finally,  one  can  get  the  planchette  for 
writing  from  Giroux,  19  Rue  de  1'Od^on, 
Paris  (40  francs). 


APPENDIX 

BOOKS    AND    LIBRARY    FACILITIES    FOR 
AMERICAN  READERS 

THE  institutions  for  the  blind  in  the  various  states 
of  the  Union,  while  maintained  chiefly  for  the  care 
and  education  of  the  young  blind,  will  all  give  in- 
formation to  adult  persons  becoming  blind  as  to  the 
means  at  their  disposal  for  teaching  them  to  read, 
and  can  direct  such  persons  how  to  obtain  books 
and  appliances. 

The  American  Printing  House  for  the  Blind, 
Louisville,  Ky.,  publishes  a  very  considerable  list 
of  school  books  upon  all  subjects,  as  well  as  volumes 
on  general  literature,  history,  poetry,  science,  and 
embossed  music.  These  volumes  are  printed  in  Line 
letter,  New  York  Point,  and  American  Braille. 
They  also  have  appliances  for  the  use  of  the  blind 
in  writing,  etc. 

A  full  catalogue  is  published,  and  also  an  em- 
bossed price-list  can  be  had  for  twenty-five  cents. 

The  Society  for  providing  Evangelical  Religious 
Literature  for  the  Blind,  3518  Lancaster  Avenue, 
Philadelphia,  Pa.,  publishes  a  number  of  volumes 
of  religious  writings  and  also  a  Sunday-school 
weekly  in  two  editions,  one  in  Line,  and  one  in 
182 


APPENDIX  183 

New  York  Point.  Upon  the  written  recommenda- 
tion of  a  superintendent  of  the  Sunday-school  for 
the  blind  a  copy  may  be  sent  free  to  any  indigent 
worthy  blind  person  in  the  state  of  Pennsylvania. 

The  Perkins  Institute  for  the  Blind,  in  South 
Boston,  Mass.,  has  a  salesroom  at  383  Boylston 
Street,  Boston,  where  supplies  may  be  had.  At  the 
Institute  in  South  Boston  there  is  a  large  library 
from  which  books  are  lent  to  be  read  at  home. 
The  librarian,  Miss  Lane,  will  gladly  answer  any 
questions  about  the  use  of  this  library. 

The  Perkins  Institute  also  sends  free  of  charge, 
to  any  one  in  Massachusetts,  upon  application, 
teachers  to  instruct  in  reading.  These  teachers  are 
blind  themselves,  and  are  sent,  men  for  men,  and 
women  for  women. 

The  general  library  facilities  of  the  United 
States  are  the  more  available  to  the  blind  who 
may  not  have  direct  access  to  a  library  by  reason 
of  the  following  order  of  the  Post-office  Depart- 
ment, made  for  the  benefit  of  the  blind  who  may  be 
entitled  to  borrow  books  from  any  institution  for 
the  blind  or  from  any  library  containing  embossed 
books. 

"ORDER  OP  THE  POSTMASTER-GENERAL 

"  Office  of  the  Postmaster-general, 
"  Order  No.  541.  «  Washington,  D.C.,  June  2,  1904. 

"Chapter  2,  Title  III,  of  the  Postal  Laws  and 
Kegulations,  is  hereby  amended  by  the  addition  of 
the  following  subdivision :  — 


184  APPENDIX 

"V.     READING   MATTER   FOR   THE    BLIND 

"  Sec.  518^.  Books,  pamphlets,  and  other  reading 
matter  in  raised  characters  for  the  use  of  the  blind, 
whether  prepared  by  hand  or  printed,  in  single 
volumes,  not  exceeding  ten  pounds  in  weight,  or  in 
packages,  not  exceeding  four  pounds  in  weight,  and 
containing  no  advertising  or  other  matter  whatever, 
unsealed  and  when  sent  by  public  institutions  for 
the  blind,  or  by  any  public  libraries,  as  a  loan  to 
blind  readers,  or  when  returned  by  the  latter  to 
such  institutions  or  public  libraries,  shall  be  trans- 
mitted in  the  United  States  mails  free  of  postage, 
and  under  such  regulations  as  the  Postmaster- 
general  may  prescribe.  (Act  of  April  27,  1904.) 

"  2.  Heading  matter  in  raised  characters  for  the 
use  of  the  blind,  to  be  entitled  to  transmission  in 
the  mails  free  of  postage,  must  not  contain  any 
advertising  or  other  matter  whatever,  and  must  in 
every  case  be  sent  by  or  returned  to  a  public  library, 
or  public  institution  for  the  blind. 

"  3.  When  mailed  by  a  public  library,  or  public 
institution  for  the  blind,  the  matter  must  be  sent 
as  a  loan  to  a  blind  reader.  When  mailed  for  re- 
turn to  a  public  library,  or  public  institution  for  the 
blind,  the  sender  must  be  a  blind  reader. 

"  4.  The  matter  must  be  wrapped  so  that  it  may 
be  easily  examined. 

"5.  No  package  is  to  weigh  more  than  four 
pounds,  except  in  case  of  a  single  volume,  and  it 
must  not  exceed  ten  pounds  in  weight. 


APPENDIX  185 

"  6.  On  the  upper  left-hand  corner  of  the  envelope 
or  wrapper  containing  the  matter  the  name  and  ad- 
dress of  the  sender  must  appear,  and  on  the  upper 
right-hand  corner  the  word  '  free '  over  the  words 
1  Reading  matter  for  the  blind/ 

"NOTE. — Letters  written  in  Point  print  or  raised  charac- 
ters used  by  the  blind  are  not  included  in  the  reading  matter 
entitled,  under  the  provisions  of  this  section,  to  free  trans- 
mission in  the  mails.  (See  section  475.) 

"H.  C.PAYNE, 
"  Postmaster-general." 

The  usefulness  of  the  libraries  in  the  large  cities 
is  thus  greatly  extended.  Some  of  the  chief  pro- 
visions made  for  the  blind  are :  — 

The  Library  of  Congress,  Washington,  D.C.,  main- 
tains a  large  airy  reading-room  on  the  ground  floor. 
There  are  834  books,  grouped  as  follows:  New 
York  Point,  434 ;  Line  type,  357 ;  American  Braille, 
35 ;  and  Moon  type,  8.  There  are  eight  magazines 
and  also  embossed  music.  Books  and  music  are 
delivered  and  exchanged  at  the  homes  of  the  blind, 
but  are  not  loaned  to  persons  living  outside  the 
District  of  Columbia. 

The  Boston  Public  Library  has  a  good  many 
volumes  in  Braille,  New  York  Point,  and  some  in 
Moon  type.  They  take  three  magazines  published 
in  England  for  the  blind.  All  the  volumes  are 
kept  in  the  stack,  as  the  use  of  them  when  kept  on 
the  tables  in  the  reading-room  was  very  limited. 


186  APPENDIX 

These  books  for  the  blind  may  be  kept  by  borrowers 
for  four  weeks,  double  the  usual  time  allowed. 

The  magazines  are :  Recreation,  edited  by  Florence 
N"evill,  Braille.  Progress,  edited  by  George  W. 
Boyle,  Braille.  Horn  Jucunda,  edited  by  W.  N". 
Illingworth,  Edinburgh,  Braille. 

The  New  York  Public  Library  has  in  its  Circu- 
lating Department  a  branch  for  the  exclusive  use 
of  the  blind.  This  was  established  in  1895  as  an 
independent  organization,  the  New  York  Free 
Circulating  Library  for  the  Blind,  and  came  into 
the  control  of  the  Public  Library  by  consolidation 
in  January  1,  1903.  The  branch  now  has  on  its 
shelves  2365  volumes,  of  which  161  were  added  the 
last  year.  The  circulation  for  the  last  library  year 
was  8057,  and  the  whole  number  of  names  of  users 
on  the  registry  book  is  319.  The  staff  of  the  branch 
includes  a  teacher  whose  business  it  is  to  seek  out 
blind  persons  who  do  not  know  how  to  read  and 
give  them  instruction  free  of  charge.  The  books 
are  chiefly  in  New  York  Point,  though  there  are 
many  also  in  the  Moon  system,  Boston  Line,  Braille, 
and  others.  Pending  the  completion  of  the  new 
library  building,  this  branch  is  situated  in  a  room 
in  the  Parish  House  of  St.  Agnes  Chapel  in  91st 
Street.  The  books  are  lent  free  to  all  residents  of 
New  York  City. 

The  Pennsylvania  Home  Teaching  Society  and 
Free  Circulating  Library  for  the  Blind  was  founded 
in  1882,  with  the  object  of  providing  a  library  of 


APPENDIX  187 

embossed  books  in  the  Moon  type,  and  sending 
teachers  to  the  homes  of  the  blind  for  the  purpose 
of  teaching  them  to  read,  and  periodically  exchang- 
ing their  books.  For  sixteen  years  the  work  was 
most  successfully  carried  on  in  Philadelphia,  under 
the  superintendence  of  Mr.  John  P.  Ehoads ;  but 
in  order  to  place  it  upon  a  more  permanent  basis, 
the  Society  was  reorganized  in  1898,  and  the  Trustees 
of  the  Free  Library  of  Philadelphia  have  undertaken 
to  cooperate  with  them,  by  taking  charge  of  the 
library  of  embossed  books  belonging  to  this  society 
for  the  blind,  as  well  as  consenting  to  superintend 
the  loaning  of  the  books  to  the  blind  upon  the 
Society's  roll  of  readers,  all  expenses  connected 
with  the  home  teaching  part  of  the  work  and  the 
circulation  of  books  outside  of  Philadelphia  being 
borne  by  the  Home  Teaching  Society. 

The  library  of  embossed  books  has  been  trans- 
ferred to  the  Free  Library,  1217-1221  Chestnut 
Street,  Philadelphia,  where  the  books  are  kept  in 
a  room  especially  set  apart  for  the  purposes  of  this 
work.  The  room  is  also  open  to  the  blind  as  a 
reading-room,  and  such  persons  are  welcome  to  the 
free  use  of  the  library.  Those  who  live  in  Phila- 
delphia or  its  vicinity  will  be  taught  at  their  homes, 
without  charge,  by  the  visitors  engaged  by  the  Home 
Teaching  Society  for  that  special  purpose. 

An  embossed  alphabet  and  a  first-lesson  sheet 
will  be  forwarded  upon  application. 

The  Department  for  the  Blind  in  the  Free  Library 


188  APPENDIX 

of  Philadelphia  has  a  circulating  library  of  over 
1700  volumes  in  the  five  types  most  used :  Ameri- 
can Braille,  Braille,  Line  letter,  Moon,  and  New 
York  Point.  The  books  in  Moon  type  belonging 
to  the  Pennsylvania  Home  Teaching  Society  may 
be  sent  as  loans  to  blind  readers  throughout  the 
United  States.  Applications  for  the  loan  of  em- 
bossed books  should  be  made  to  Mr.  John  Thomson, 
Librarian,  Free  Library  of  Philadelphia,  1217  Chest- 
nut Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

The  Chicago  Public  Library  has  about  800  volumes 
printed  in  Moon,  in  American  Braille,  and  American 
Line.  These  books  may  be  taken  for  home  use. 
There  is  also  a  special  room  for  blind  readers  in 
the  main  library,  "  but  it  is  little  used."  The  cir- 
culation is  about  1500  volumes  a  year,  chiefly 
through  the  delivery  stations. 

The  San  Francisco  Public  Library  has  no  formal 
provision  for  the  blind,  but  one  of  its  rooms  in  the 
Phelan  Branch  Library,  Fourth  and  Clara  Streets, 
is  occupied  by  an  organization  of  ladies  under  the 
name  of  the  Keading-room  for  the  Blind. 

Books  in  English  Braille  may  be  obtained  from  the 
British  and  Foreign  Blind  Association,  206  Great 
Portland  Street,  London,  W. 


The  following  is  the  list  of  all  the  institutions  for  the 
blind  in  the  various  states.  One  can  obtain  information 
about  books  and  appliances  in  each  city  by  writing  to  the 
institution  named. 


APPENDIX 

Alabama 

Talladega             A 
Sc 

Arkansas 
California 

Little  Rock          S< 
Berkeley               Ir 

Colorado 
Connecticut 

Colorado               S< 
Springs 
Hartford               N 

Florida 

St.  Augustine       Ii 

Georgia 
Illinois 

Macon                   A 
Jacksonville         Ii 

Indiana 

Indianapolis         Ii 

Indian  Ter- 
ritory 
Iowa 
Kansas 

Fort  Gibson          Ii 

Vinton                  C 
Kansas  City         Ii 

Kentucky 

Louisville             Ii 

Louisiana 
Maryland 

Baton  Rouge        Ii 
Baltimore             S 

Massachusetts      Boston 


189 

Academy  for  the  Blind 

School  for  Negro  Deaf- 
mutes  and  Blind 

School  for  the  Blind 

Institution  for  the  Edu- 
cation of  Deaf,  Dumb, 
and  Blind 

School  for  the  Deaf  and 
Blind 

Nursery  and  Kindergar- 
ten for  Blind 

Institution  for  Deaf  and 
Blind 

Academy  for  the  Blind 

Institution  for  the  Edu- 
cation of  the  Blind 

Institute  for  the  Educa- 
tion of  Blind 

International  School  for 
Blind 

College  for  the  Blind 

Institution  for  the  Edu- 
cation of  the  Blind 

Institution  for  the  Edu- 
cation of  the  Blind 

Institution  for  the  Blind 

School  for  the  Blind 

School  for  the  Colored 
Blind  and  Deaf-mutes 

Perkins  Institute  for  the 
Blind 

Association  for  promoting 
the  Interests  of  the 
Adult  Blind.  —  Agent, 
C.  F.  F.  Campbell, 
Broadway,  Cambridge, 
Mass. 


190 


APPENDIX 


Michigan 

Minnesota 

Mississippi 

Missouri 

Montana 

Nebraska 
New  Mexico 

New  York 
North  Carolina 
Ohio 

Oklahoma  Ter- 
ritory 
Oregon 
Pennsylvania 

South  Carolina 


South  Dakota 

Tennessee 

Texas 


Utah 
Virginia 


Lansing 
Faribault 
Jackson 
St.  Louis 
Boulder 

Nebraska  City 
Santa  FC" 

Batavia 

New  York  City 

Raleigh 

Columbus 
Guthrie 

Salem 

Philadelphia 
Pittsburg 
Cedar  Springs 


Gary 

Nashville 

Austin 


Ogden 

Staunton 


Washington          Vancouver 


School  for  the  Blind 
School  for  the  Blind 
Institute  for  the  Blind 
School  for  the  Blind 
School  for  the  Deaf  and 

Blind 

Institution  for  the  Blind 
Institution  for  the  Deaf, 

Dumb,  and  Blind 
State  School  for  the  Blind 
Institution  for  the  Blind 
Institution  for  the  Deaf, 

Dumb,  and  Blind 
Institution  for  the  Edu- 
cation of  Blind 
Institution  for  the  Deaf, 

Dumb,  and  Blind 
Institute  for  the  Blind 
Institution  for  the  Blind 
Institution  for  the  Blind 
Institution  for  the  Edu- 
cation   of    the    Deaf, 
Dumb,  and  Blind 
"A  School" 
School  for  the  Blind 
Institution  for  the  Blind 
Institution  for  the  Deaf, 
Dumb,  and  the  Blind 
Colored  Youth 
University  of  Utah — De- 
partment for  Blind 
Institution  for  the  Edu- 
cation  of    the    Deaf, 
Dumb,  and  Blind 
School     for     Defective 
Youth 


APPENDIX  191 

West  Virginia      Komney  School  for  the  Deaf  and 

Blind 

Wisconsin  Janes ville  School  for  the  Blind 

Wyoming  Cheyenne  Institution  for  the  Blind 

and  Deaf  and  Dumb 

Massachusetts  is  the  only  state  which  has  yet 
taken  up  the  interests  of  those  who  have  become 
blind  after  the  years  of  childhood.  The  Massachu- 
setts Association  for  Promoting  the  Interests  of 
the  Adult  Blind  was  established  in  1903,  with  the 
object  of  helping  the  adult  blind  to  help  themselves. 
While  awaiting  the  final  report  of  a  state  commis- 
sion appointed  as  a  result  of  its  labors  by  the  gov- 
ernor "to  investigate  the  condition  of  the  adult 
blind,"  the  Association  has  continued  its  work  of 
giving  and  receiving  information  as  to  the  needs 
and  capabilities  of  the  blind ;  and  has  established 
an  experiment  station  to  find  and  test  industries 
and  processes  which  seem  practicable  for  the  blind. 


THE  EYE 

ITS   REFRACTION  AND   DISEASES 

THE  REFRACTION  AND  FUNCTIONAL  TESTING  OF  THE  EYE,  COMPLETE 
IN  ITSELF,  IN  TWENTY-EIGHT  CHAPTERS,  WITH  NUMEROUS  EX- 
PLANATORY CUTS  AND  DIAGRAMS 

By  EDWARD  E.    GIBBONS,   M.D. 

Assistant  Surgeon  of  the  Eye,  Ear,  and  Throat  Hospital ;  Demonstrator  and 

Chief  in  Clinic  of  Eye  and  Ear  Diseases  in  the  University  of 

Maryland,  Baltimore 

Cloth.    8vo.    $5.00  net 

11  The  author  has  attempted  in  the  pages  of  this  work  to  supply  students 
of  ophthalmology  with  the  practical  information  needed  upon  the  various 
subjects  treated. 

"  The  deductions  of  the  various  formulae  used  in  optics  have  been  simpli- 
fied and  inserted.  It  is  customary  to  omit  the  mathematics  of  the  subject 
from  treatises  of  this  kind,  but  the  author  feels  that  the  student  should  be 
familiar  with  the  physics  involved  for  the  proper  understanding  of  the  sub- 
ject. The  scope  of  the  work  precludes  as  frequent  reference  to  authors  as 
the  writer  would  like.  The  author  feels  that  the  new  material  and  diagrams 
the  work  contains  justify  its  publication,  so  offers  no  apology  for  adding  one 
more  to  the  numerous  books  upon  the  same  subject."  —  From  the  Preface. 


THE  REFRACTION  OF  THE  EYE 

INCLUDING  A  COMPLETE  TREATISE  ON   OPHTHALMOME- 

TRY;  A  CLINICAL  TEXT-BOOK  FOR  STUDENTS  AND 

PRACTITIONERS 

By  EDWARD  DAVIS,   A.M.,   M.D. 

Cloth.    8vo.    $3.oo  net.    With  119  Engravings,  97  of 
which  are  original 

The  author  outlines  a  routine  method  of  examination  to  be  followed  in 
every  case.  Each  step  of  the  examination  that  is  necessary  to  be  made  in 
fitting  a  patient  with  glasses  is  described  in  detail.  With  the  use  of  the 
ophthalmometer  to  detect  the  corneal  astigmatism,  and  by  following  this 
routine  method  of  examination,  spasm  of  accommodation,  if  present,  can, 
in  the  great  majority  of  cases,  be  overcome,  and  if  not  present,  the  liability 
of  causing  it  avoided.  Thus  the  use  of  a  mydriatic  is  rendered  unnecessary, 
except  on  rare  occasions  —  in  not  more  than  one  per  cent  of  all  cases  of 
errors  of  refraction. 

The  entire  subject  of  the  refraction  of  the  eye  is  treated  in  this  volume. 
A  feature  of  the  book  is  a  report  in  full  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  clinical 
cases,  illustrating  practical  points  in  the  fitting  of  glasses  and  in  the  use  of 
the  ophthalmometer.  Many  diagrams  are  used  to  show  the  focus  of  the 
principal  meridians  of  the  eyes,  so  that  the  merest  tyro  must  understand  them. 

The  most  complete  and  detailed  description  of  the  ophthalmometer, 
together  with  concise  and  definite  rules  for  its  use,  are  given.  These  rules 
contain  the  best  practical  directions  for  using  the  instrument  accurately,  and 
by  their  aid  alone  the  careful  student  will  learn  to  use  the  instrument  correctly. 


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T^IE  OPHTHALniC  PATIENT 

A  MANUAL  OF  THERAPEUTICS  AND  NURSING  IN  EYE  DISEASE 

By  PERCY  FRIDENBERG,  M.D. 

Surgeon  to  the  Randall's  Island  and  Infants'  Hospitals,  Assistant 
Surgeon  New  York  Eye  and  Ear  Infirmary 

Cloth.     i6mo.     $1.00  net 

"  The  .author  aims  to  explain  the  principles  and  to  describe  the  various  procedures 
and  appliances  of  ophthalmic  nursing,  the  technique  of  operative  assistance,  and  the 
nature  an£  use  of  ocular  remedies,  as  exemplified  in  private  practice  as  well  as  in 
th«  estab'ljihed  routine  of  well-equipped  institutions.  The  book  is  intended  to  serve 
as  a  prajaHcal  guide  to  physicians,  students,  ani  nurses  who  lack  special  training  in 
the  c«tre".i$f  ophthalmic  cases,  as  well  as  to  supplement  the  invaluable  routine  of  the 
ward  and  the  training-school  with  theoretical  instruction.  The  author  has  thought  it 
advisable,to  lay  most  stress  on  actual  nursing,  and  to  treat  of  the  topics  of  pathology, 
symptomatology,  and  diagnosis  only  in  so  far  as  it  was  necessary  to  elucidate  his  own 
theme,  for  this  volume  is  in  no  way  a  treatise  on  diseases  of  the  Eye."  —  From  the 
Prefact, 


DEFECTIVE  EYESIGHT 

THE  PRINCIPLES  OF  ITS  RELIEF  BY  GLASSES 

By  D.  B.  ST.  JOHN  ROOSA,  M.D.,  LL.D. 

Cloth.    i6mo.    $1.00  net 

This  treatise  takes  up  all  conditions  requiring  the  use  of  glasses,  and  indicates  in 
the  most  careful  manner  the  indications  and  rules  for  describing  them.  It  is  well 
known  that  the  author  is  a  conservative  in  regard  to  the  value  of  glasses,  believing 
that  there  is  a  limitation  to  their  use,  and  that  they  ought  not  to  be  prescribed  unless 
o'f  positive  value.  No  pains  have  been  spared  to  make  the  manual  a  complete  guide 
to  the  practitioner  who  wishes  to  understand  and  practise  the  rules  for  the  prescrip- 
tion of  lenses  for  the  improvement  of  impaired  sight.  The  book  may  also  be  interest- 
ing to  educated  men  in  all  departments  of  life,  who  desire  to  be  informed  as  to 
advances  that  have  been  made  in  this  interesting  subject  —  one  which  concerns  such 
a  large  proportion  of  the  human  race. 


HANDBOOK  OF  OPTICS  FOR 
STUDENTS  OF  OPHTHALflOLOQY 

By  WILLIAM  NORWOOD  SUTER,  B.A.,  M.D. 

Cloth.    i6mo.    $1.00  net 

"  Simplicity  has  been  sought  so  far  as  this  is  not  incompatible  with  thoroughness. 
But  the  demonstrations,  some  of  which  may  appear  formidable  to  the  student,  require 
no  knowledge  of  mathematics  beyond  that  of  simple  algebraic  equations  and  the 
elementary  truths  of  geometry.  For  those  who  may  not  be  familiar  with  the  trigo- 
nometrical ratios,  a  brief  synopsis  has  been  furnished  in  an  appendix."  —  From  the 


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